Tenacity
by Strange and Intoxicating -rsa
Summary: The chains of fate shattered at Zack Fair's feet when he survived that day in the wastelands. For two thousand years, Gaia was tethered to the circle of destruction and hate, but now... now they all must watch and wait. This is the beginning. multiship
1. Prologue: Pity

Tenacity

By- Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-

A/N: This story will contain **Homosexual/Heterosexual** pairings. If you cannot handle either, than I ask you to please turn around. The main focus of the story will be Zack's life, should he have survived. While this story will be of epic length, I will try my hardest to keep characters in character. Sexuality does not define a character.

**Re-edited as of 1/4/2012**

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life-the end.

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Prologue: Pity

Mako smelled of death.

_Blood pooling out of his chest, instruments of torture in the name of science... that blood congealed around his body, sticking to him, smearing across his skin. Switched with mako- overpowering, cruel, lifeless. Zack screamed in the beginning but after a while he stopped. Cloud didn't stop screaming until the end. Were they alive—had they ever been alive? Could one die and come back? Could their very blood boil and burn?_

"Keep walking," Zack uttered under his breath, pulling Cloud closer to his heaving chest. Three days of constant walking had taken its toll, but he refused to stop. The first two days were simple, "A piece of cake," he remembered saying when he dragged the limp boy from the truck. That had been eons ago when spirits were high. Not to mention the mako- the overpowering stench- was faint and swept away by the winds. Now, closer to the city, the entire surroundings of Midgar smelled of death.

"This is interesting." Zack ruffled Cloud's hair, the way he had when things had been so much simpler.

The boy groaned in response.

_Hojo snickered and folded his hands behind his back. Two experiments, one able to kill the great 'General'; oh, how interesting they were. He touched, he poked, he prodded. The results were so very, **very**interesting. "Too much mako," he mumble, or "not enough." Those were always the worst experiments._

'Z' went quiet early. Before their escape, specimen 'C' silenced too.

Cloud's status hadn't changed. Then again, Zack hadn't expected the guy to be okay. He spent most of his time moaning or screaming if not stuck in a dream world, reaching for nothing and everything. There were stars in his eyes and Zack would only smile and talk, as if his friend understood.

Such lies.

_Those tanks in Nibelheim's reactor weren't right. Filled with monsters and beasts-it was a flashback to Shinra Headquarters, where Hojo kept his most prized and valuable experiments. At night, when all of the SOLDIERs went to sleep and the building was quiet, the shrieking started. He grew used to the sounds by the end of his time with Hojo, but as a cadet he would curl in on himself and try to hide from the ghouls. No one took the Lab assignments. No one. _

Zack trekked through the barren wasteland towards Midgar. It was the city of rich fools set on world domination, their greedy fingertips stained with Gaia's blood. On the other hand it was the city of poor rich fools, convinced their government was saving the world. Those were the worst-they gladly slipping their coins into Shinra's till. Midgar was the city of never-ending scam-artists and lies. There was no better place in the world.

Suddenly, Cloud whined and gripped his fingers to Zack's uniform. He could hear Cloud's protesting joints popping.

"You okay?" Zack asked, mussing the boy's hair. Groggy, shining eyes looked up with madness. _Holy_... he still looked sixteen.

"Stop," Cloud gurgled and if anything, his grip tightened. There were holes beginning to unravel under his fingers. If it kept up, Cloud was a goner.

"_Specimen 'C' has been crying more as of late. I have injected him with several new strains of 'S', twenty-five milli-liters in each dosage. No change. Tomorrow I shall be upping the dosage to fifty milli-liters. Perhaps that will make the transformation begin."_

Zack looked down again, his feet still trudging through bleak, dry dirt. The brown muck clung to his shoes and their skin.

"No way I'm stopping." Zack smiled, his face strained. His feet continued to plow through the rubble and caking dirt; the area around Midgar was a barren landscape. Scientists that Zack knew before his stint in Nibelheim said it was caused by the mako pollution, but they had their doubts. Zack knew it was bullshit. Every place a mako reactor went the land died-it was like the grounds were tended with salt and fire, aching and so bright.

Cloud let go of the shirt. The black material slid smoothly down Zack's stomach as Cloud ran the pads of his fingers against the scar on Zack's face. It was gentle and innocent... yet probing and burning. He stroked the skin for a whisper of a moment before twisting his hand away, pointing up at the sky.

"Stop," he gurgled again.

This time Zack could head the undertones, the sound of another voice joining Cloud's. Zack turned his head sharply as he heard the crackle of an intercom and a speeding propeller. A few hundred feet away one of Shinra's sleek helicopters hovered in the air; the paint on the steel still looked wet. They were going to be abducted again, weren't they? _They_ wouldn't stop until both Cloud and Zack were dead... _They _would follow them to the ends of the Planet if it assured their destruction. _They _were a parasitic thing, and if _they_ caught them... it would be over.

"Shit, Cloud," he whispered as he protectively wrapped his arms tighter. His glance darted around the area, analyzing the terrain. Zack swore again; the rocks weren't large enough to hide Cloud and there was no vegetation that he could stash the kid in for protection. He twitched and looked back at the helicopter-he outright refused to put Cloud in danger. The kid didn't do anything wrong... and he wasn't going to let someone drag a half-dead boy back to Shinra.

"Zack, stop!" the voice yelled again. He knew that voice, knew it well. And he ignored it, taking off in a run, hoisting Cloud up to keep him from bouncing out of his hands. No time, there was no time. No place to go.

The helicopter roared by their heads and Zack ducked, avoiding a spray of dirt and rocks. His own body could only shield Cloud from so much of the damage, and when he looked down through strained eyes he noticed that Cloud curled his face into his shirt to breathe.

The wind continued to blow ferociously, howling like a mad Kalm Fang on a full moon. Zack couldn't look up for more than a few seconds at a time. His boots were suctioned to the ground and it took jolting himself to move. The faster he tried, the less his legs cooperated until Zack had to stop and dig his heels into the sand. There was something approaching and the swirling began to die.

Blood red.

"_Hey, the name's Reno, and me an' you seem to be stuck in a bit of a tiffy." The red-head swirled the vodka in his glass before lifting in to his lips. "It looks like the big boys upstairs want us ta be partners, and I ain't too happy 'bout that. My normal partner, Rude, managed to blow up some bullshit experiment of Hojo's, and now I ain't got no one to go with me for this damn assignment." He drained the glass and smacked it down to the table with a thud. "Anyway, we gotta go kidnap some guy off the plate. I gotta use you ta get in there. Some assassin from Wutai, or some shit like that." _

"Reno," whispered Zack. He needed to get Cloud somewhere, somewhere where Reno wouldn't see, couldn't hurt the kid.

Quickly, Zack hefted Cloud up on his shoulder before he took off toward the eye of the sandstorm, sitting the boy down to rest near a pile of misshapen stone. "You stay here," he whispered into Cloud's spikes. Cloud clung to his shirt again, but he pried the kid's pale fingers away. "It's okay, it'll be okay."

"Daw, ain't this a lovely scene."

Zack pulled his Buster Sword from the magnetic sheath, pointing it at the approaching Turk. "Don't move," Zack growled, voice dropping an octave.

The Turk paid no mind and continued forward. The EMR was poised on his belt-a dangerous weapon. Zack could remember the smell of burning meat and charred flesh with that thing. When Reno went to grab for it, Zack brandished the weapon before him, as though the metal would somehow deflect the electricity. Reno only quirked his eyebrow and tossed the thing to the ground at Zack's feet, hitting into his boot before skidding to a halt in front of Cloud.

"I ain't gunna hurt ya," the Turk said.

Zack tightened his grip on the sword. The helicopter nearby was hovering just above the ground; how much force would it take to bring it down?

"And why would I trust you?" Zack asked, his voice burning holes in his tongue.

Reno smirked. "I owe ya, remember?" There was false mirth in his eyes. If Zack didn't know better, Reno looked like he'd been either sick or not eating right for a while.

"You owe me quite a bit, but that doesn't mean shit."

Reno looked down like a child caught with his hand down his pants. He kicked at the dirt and put his hands in his pockets, languishingly leaning from side to side. "Well, I know that. But look at me, I'm harmless!" Demurely, Reno slumped his shoulders. There was a cat's grin across his mouth, though. Zack knew better than to trust that mouth.

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

Reno shrugged one shoulder and looked to Cloud, who had curled himself into a tight ball, before scratching his nose. "Look. I know you don't trust me, but I'm not gunna hand you over. I'm on my break." While something like that was typical of Reno, Zack couldn't help but take a step back. He dropped the Buster Sword into a offensive position, ready to strike if the Turk so much as sniffled.

Reno coughed _(and Zack did not move.)_ "The kid needs some fuckin' meds. They said you'd be traveling with some pipsqueak, but they didn't say he was sick or nuthin'."

"_Specimen 'C', I have deemed, is a complete failure. He has been unresponsive to the 'S' strain. I have decided that beginning tomorrow another set of experiments will occur, to see if 'G' cells may counterbalance the 'S'. Chances of reunion with 'G' cells could be limited, but I am curious as to whether they will cannibalize." Hojo cackled. "Experiment 'Z', on the other hand, is doing well with the 'S' cells, but is not fully taking to them. When the new regimen begins, I will be inserting more mako and more Jenova 'S' and 'A' cells. Perhaps there is hope to this experiment yet." _

"He is really sick, and I know who can help him..." Zack looked at Cloud; the hoarse screams would begin soon. They always did. "I would kill you if he wasn't here," Zack scornfully added. "Fucking betrayer."

"That's not important right now. Just get the brat and let's go," Reno said, exaggerating his arm movements. Zack was still skeptical, and looked down at Cloud.

"Look," Reno drawled, "I get it. Fuckin' bitch some other time, or your buddy's gunna croak."

"I know that." Zack searched the Turk's face one more time. Reno looked bored, and was scratching at his palm with his fingernails, but he didn't look like he was lying. Zack knew Reno's liar face. This one seemed honest-as honest as a Turk could be.

"Before you go askin' for some ulterior motive, Tseng doesn't want me to kill ya. He was the one who suggested this, y'know."

Zack nibbled his lip, looking down at Cloud. "If anything happens, I swear to the heavens..." he trailed off.

"Well, then we ain't got nuthin' to worry 'bout. Who ya gunna bring the pipsqueak to anyway? I didn't think there were any good healers that don't have some connections to Shinra."

"_The planet thought that I was worthy," the girl mused, running her fingers through her silky brown hair. "I'm going to help save people with my powers. I've been always adept to using the cure materia. Sometimes, when I get hurt or get scared, I don't even need the materia. It's weird, but if it helps it must be a gift from the planet." She bent down, grasping the clipping shears she abandoned moments before. "So, are you going to help me cut these flowers or will I have to do it all on my lonesome?"_

"You know who," Zack said as he swung his sword over his head and into its sheath. He looked away from Reno and down at Cloud before kneeling closer. He kissed the boy's temple. "Hey, Cloud, come on, we're going to go on a ride," he whispered in a low voice as he lifted him up.

"I still don't trust you. No Hojo, right?"

The red-head choked. "You know me better; guy gives me the creeps."

"I hope you know," Zack finally said as they walked toward the helicopter, Cloud's weight the only thing making him get into the helicopter. "I'm only doing this for Cloud. I'm not gunna forgive you." Zack would have rather walked through an army, but Cloud's condition was deteriorating...

"Yeah, yeah. The entire Shinra army has been sent to find your ass, and Tseng's always got some reason for what he does. You don't need to forgive me for anything- in ya go!" They made it to the helicopter and Reno pulled out a cigarette. He held out the pack, bouncing it around in his palm.

"No thanks." Zack pulled Cloud up through the open door, sliding between the two pilot seats, Cloud resting in his lap. He knew if CLoud was in his right mind, he would've been protesting. When he got better, Zack would avoid mentioning it. As long as CLoud woke up, it wouldn't matter. He was responsible for Cloud, held his life in the palm of his hands.

"You ain't smoking? Man, that's a first." Reno looked down at the pack for a moment before shaking his head. "Well, your loss."

"What about big boy over there?" Zack roughly pointed his chin at Rude, who stared off into the distance.

Reno snickered. "Dude, we've both known Rude here for how long? Six or seven years? You know he's basically a fuckin' mute, so I wouldn't worry 'bout him." The red-head jumped into the seat, strapping himself down. "Lookie there. We've got company."

Zack traced the horizon: hundreds of SOLDIERs and grunts, tanks and trucks stood against the smoggy line. "I would find this funny if they weren't about to kill me," he snarled, his eyes glaring out at the hundreds of men. "Shut the door!" the SOLDIER suddenly yelled, causing Reno to snap his head up and fumble. The helicopter was already beginning to take off, the wind whipping against Zack's face like a monsoon's breeze.

"Shit!" the red-head yelled, knocking a box out of the helicopter. "Ah, double shit!" he yelled again, throwing his cigarette out of the helicopter. He snapped the helicopter door closed and sat back into his seat, kicking the metal-plated side.

Zack watched with muted fascination as the wind swirled the papers around. "What were those?"

"Tseng gave them to me to give to you." Reno pulled out the pack of cigarettes and took another out. "He said they were from that Ancient."

"_I'll write you letters," Aeris giggled, spinning around in the flowers. "And I'll keep writing them, every week- no, day- until you answer them! I'll hide them in your apartment, in the slums, everywhere!" She giggled again, her eyes shining in amusement. "And you promise you'll answer them?"_

He was pulled away from his thought when Cloud grunted and snuggled closer, reaching for comfort.

"So, are ya pissed off at me?" Reno asked, lighting his cigarette and taking a drag.

"No, I'm not," Zack answered, running his fingers through Cloud's dirty hair. "I'm not mad." He didn't have it in his body to be angry; he was so tired. Three days of walking and barelya moment of rest.

Zack looked down at his friend and tried to smile, but all the came was a grimace.

_I'll keep you safe if it's the last thing I do, Cloud. I promise._

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**Please Review!**


	2. Recognize

**Edited as of 1/4/2012**

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Chapter One: Recognize

The city of Midgar was filthier than ever; the neon green light from the lamp posts made the dirt and grime of the sidewalks and buildings shine. Glass shards littered the walkways while bums lay in the streets, covered in glass and their own faeces, bottles of whiskey clutched in their stubby fingers. The women, with their 'come hither' eyes and noxious perfumes mixed with the smell of decaying corpses, stood in front of cheap hotels, keys swinging from their long, pointy fingers. Children stood on street corners, makeup adorning their androgynous faces, some with needles filled with MM - the diluted form of Mako- hidden on their persons for the clients who would be coming, always coming. This was the city every boy wished to adventure, a place where they swore they would become famous and make their fortunes.

Zack pulled Cloud closer to him as they passed a group of thugs. The raven-haired man's fingers itched for his sword... They were looking and pawing through their pockets. A knot curled in Zack's stomach as he caught them waltzing off to the side, hiding between trash cans like gutter rats as they followed the SOLDIER and his companion.

"It's a pretty boy," one grumbled, his tongue running over his upper lip. A grubby beard was present across his face, tangled into a mangled heap, unwashed. His hand touched the small switchblade latched to the ragged leather belt around his torn jeans. Zack shouldn't have been able to hear or see their plotting.

Buster was a reassuring weight on his back, positively taunting him.

"Mmm-hm, Jake, we could get a pretty gil for 'im," another whispered, reaching down to grab a shard of green glass, sharp and jagged. "How much do ya think he's worth? Four-hundred? Maybe six if we's lucky." Zack knew their decision before they came closer. The stink from their soiled bodies and open sores made Zack's nose itch uncomfortably, but the teeming mako smell was much worse.

Enhanced senses. The SOLDIER almost laughed. No one ever got used to it, the ability to grind bones in their hands or smell milk curling in their own stomach... and living in Midgar, the smell of mako was a cheap whore's perfume.

The men were too close. He shifted Cloud's body to the side, as far away as Zack thought he could reasonably hold him. His other began stretching for the Buster Sword. To the men it looked as if he was scratching his long mane of dirty black hair. Mercilessly, they began their attack.

Zack had just enough time to turn his body, one side protecting Cloud, the other jutted forward. His sword clashed with a small knife, sending the blade flying through the cold air to clatter to the street. Another blond man, weaponless, launched himself onto Zack's back, tearing at his wild hair.

"Grab the kid!" the other yelled to the man with the glass, barely missing the swinging Buster Sword.

With gusto he hadn't experience since his fight with Cissnei, Zack whipped his left arm over his head, blade slicing through soft flesh. The man gave a scream but did not let go of the SOLDIER's hair. Blood began to pool down into violet eyes, dripping from the blond's wound. Despite the cut, the bastard was still clinging to Zack's head, grip inflexible.

Zack swung his head back and launched the blond off his shoulders. The man with the glass took the initiative. He flew towards Cloud, one hand slashing the SOLDIER's arm, a deep wound appearing on the smooth surface, the other snatching at Cloud's dirty blond hair.

At the same instant, Zack grabbed the fallen thug. "You let go of him right now or I'll fucking kill your friend here." The SOLDIER's face twisted into a macabre sneer, the blood of his enemies running down his face in streams. His Buster Sword was positioned at the blond's throat, ready to slice at a second's hesitation from the other two.

"Look at his eyes," the mangy-bearded man said, his own eyes widening with awe, "he's a -"

"SOLDIER, First-Class. Now I suggest you and your buddies quit while your heads're still attached to your bodies." Zack lifted the blade from the blond's throat, not even enough to let him breathe. Sweat beaded the man's hairline. "Now get the fuck away from us, and don't come back." Zack swung the sword back over his head and to its sheath. The blond on the floor scrambled up from the dust-mingled streets and the three men fled, tails between their legs.

"That was easy," Zack mumbled, shifting his bloody wrist from the side of Cloud's face. Cloud looked fine and only a small trickle of red ran down Zack's wrist, but it was nothing the mako inside him wouldn't take care of. As he watched, the green tendrils erupted from his inner layers of skin, pasting the wound closed, kneading the skin together. The crimson lifeblood intermingling with green mako made his hands cold.

_A flash of the labs, bright green poison mako..._

Zack shook his head violently, wiping those thoughts from existence. He was a SOLDIER, dammit, not weak. He would not submit to the memories. He _ould_ not, because then, what would happen to his promises? Slowly, he leaned against the nearby building, slumping to the ground, laying Cloud in his lap. Blood still bubbled down the blue-eyed boy's face, but he seemed oblivious to it. Zack felt a little bad when some of his blood from his closing wound dribbled into Cloud's mouth.

The building's stones felt good against his back, the coolness radiating through his shirt. Zack leaned his friend against the wall and pulled a small cloth from his pocket. "Cloud, what am I going to do with you?" Matted with blood and dried mako, he wiped the few blood drops from the corners of Cloud's mouth before attempting to clean his own face. Already crusting, the blood left brown streaks on his skin that his adroit hands were not able to clean in time. The mess, slick and wet, turned the green cloth to scarlet reddish brown. The intricate pattern on the side, which Zack had been using to scrub his face, was a small lily. At one point it had been pure white. Now, dirty beyond all measure, there was nothing left to do but throw the old relic behind him.

"Hey, you conked out on me?" He'd only looked away for a second, only a second.

There was blood. Everywhere. Thick tendrils of red flowed from Cloud's mouth and down the side of his sheet-white skin. It dripped from his eyes, pouring from his nose. The scarlet liquid seemed to even be draining from his pores, his skin bleeding out, bursting out of his skin. Blood dyed Cloud's shirtfront red, his hair red, even his irises were starbursts of blood.

_It's just a hallucination, it's got to be a sick, sick, hallucination._

Zack snapped his eyes closed before opening them again, seeing that Cloud was still bleeding out. This couldn't be real, it was his imagination after his first battle in so long. There was no blood, no wound, there couldn't have been.

Yet, the blood was still there, warm and sticky on Zack's skin, in his hair, in his nose. Where was it coming from? Cloud'd been fine just a moment ago. What was going on? What was wrong? What was happening?

Zack felt himself begin to hyperventilate, body going rigid. The wall against his back was no longer cool and calming, but an inferno burning off his skin. They'd only reached Midgar, just been dropped off. It'd only been a fight with a group of low-life thugs. Zack'd killed more, broken more, butchered more than that in his sleep... And Cloud hadn't even gotten a scratch! Where was the blood coming from? He'd been so careful, so careful...

The labs swam in front of Zack's eyes-what had Hojo done to them?

_Keep calm, keep calm. You need to save him. You need to make him breathe._

Zack tilted the blond's head down and fished his fingers in Cloud's throat, trying to clear a passage. He pressed his lips against Cloud's, feeling the metallic taste of blood in his mouth as he pushed the air from his mouth to the boy's, but nothing was working...

**Stop the blood. You need to stop the blood. You need to bring him somewhere safe.**

Zack grabbed for his sword where a small shard of green materia only twinkled in its metal casing.

"Fuck!" he snarled when the level one materia did nothing. Blood still pumped out, and his heart, Cloud's melancholy heart was slowing to the pace of a funeral march. He threw the piece of junk to the ground with loathing as he grabbed Cloud and pulled him up and propping the boy on his back (barely remembering to grab the Buster Sword), hoping there was a clear way on the to the... Where was safe? Where was safe?

_Green. Green. _**Green.**

Where was there green in the slums-The church! No, Zack thought as he began running, his feet knowing where to bring him while his mind did not. The church was too far, and east. _East, _Zack's mind screamed, his feet following an eerily memorized route; east was Aeris's home. Aeris, she didn't need materia to heal. Aeris.

_Pull yourself together, _Zack chanted, his feet moving in synchronized movements of _left, right, left, right, move, move, move. _

The slums were closer, so close Zack could make out the line of women and men sitting by the local bathroom, waiting their turn to bathe in a place with dozens of others, all forms of humiliation surpassed and ignored. He may have smelled the flowers, which regularly grew around the Gainsborough home, but the blood was intoxicating him, the smell of copper and sugar, the overpowering taint of mako.

She was there. He could feel it in his bones as he rushed past the masses of people, their normal faces and normal lives nothing like the girl he was searching for. The last time he had seen her she had been wearing a blue dress. Zack had told her she would have looked wonderful in pink, handing her a ribbon of the prettiest rose color. He looked for pink, any sign of pink, a rose clutched in someone's hand, a sea of brown hair tied up with a pink bow, something.

Anything.

Cloud took a small shuddering breath, coughing out more blood, leaving a red trail in its wake.

"Aeris!" Zack bellowed, running to the area which was so common, but uncommon at the same moment. A home, built of wood, stood in the middle of what seemed to be a field of blooming flowers – not something all too ordinary in such a place as Midgar.

Aeris could help, she was special. The Planet loved her...

"Yes?" The woman looked up from her flowers, fingers entwined in a rose bush, clipping shears in the other. She was tranquil, in the special place only she knew. But Zack didn't care, not then. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. It was the thrumming of his heart, the only thing he cared about,the only important thing in the world.

When she saw who stood near her, approaching with the body of a boy in his strong arms, the color in her face drained. "Z-Zack?"

"Aeris," his voice broke. "Please, do something,"

She didn't waste a moment, rushing past the two, Zack matching her stride. The door to her home was open. As they entered, Aeris began pushing various articles off the kitchen table.

"Put him there!" she yelled, running to the kitchen sink and turning on the cold water.

Zack followed her orders, gently placing the bleeding boy on the table. Cloud's eyes opened, glazed over. He gasped, coughing more and more blood. He was even crying, though his tears were nothing but blood..

"Calm down," Zack said reassuringly, unsure who exactly he was attempting to comfort. He ran the pads of his fingers down Cloud's face, smudging the blood even more as Aeris swept by, pushing a cloth into a bucket of icy water.

"Wipe him down," she ordered, shoving the bucket into the black-haired man's hands, already pulling at her hair. "What in the world happened?" Her fingers grasped for the white materia wrapped in her hair and began yanking on the pink ribbon.

"I've got no fucking clue," Zack answered, grabbing a rag and dunking it into the water. He trembled.

Aeris took a deep breath, hands grasped together with her materia. Zack was sliding the cool rag against Cloud's pallid skin. Every inch was bloody.

His heartbeat was barely there, slower than an old man, lower than an infant. The thrum of Cloud's heart, more constant than the clicking of a clock, was fighting in his chest.

It took all of Zack's willpower not to scream.

"Come on, come on," Zack prayed, letting the bloodied rag drop to the ground with a squelch. "We've come too far. You can't die. Not now," he repeated his mantra over and over, his fingers entwined with the blond's. They were growing cold, so very cold.

Cloud's heart gave a thump, so soft Zack's enhanced hearing barely caught it, then went silent.

"Come on, come on, come _on_." Zack's fingers pulled, but Cloud's chest stopped.

"I-I'm sorry, Zack," Aeris said after a moment, her voice low. "I couldn't do anything."

The breath caught in his throat. No. No. Nononononononononono-

A thump. It was small, so small the black-haired man almost did not hear it. But it was there. And then green came, the safety and warmth of green.

"Oh, thank Holy," Zack whispered, his fingers loosening a bit as he bent down to his knees in a prayer. "Thank you, Aeris." Soft tendrils of green grasped the blond's body. The beat, like a drum, grew stronger. The wispy, smoke-like substance glided over Zack's own skin for a moment, reaching out to caress his cheek...

"That's not me..."

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"Thank you for letting him sleep in your room." Zack looked up from the mug clutched in his left hand, coffee swirling inside. It had been an hour, but there still weren't words for what happened.

Aeris took a sip of her tea, lips pursed, hair mussed. The blood had been washed off the table, the objects placed back in meticulous order, but the two could still see the scene folding out, the blood dripping, a heart beating so sluggishly.

"Of course." Aeris let her cup clunk against the wooden table. Her green eyes peered through her bangs to the man across from her. "You were gone. For five years. I thought you were dead." She crossed her arms and hugged herself. "I gave Tseng my letters, all eighty-nine of them. Did you get them?

"I got your last. Reno had all of the others, but when he was saving me and Cloud the box fell out of the helicopter." Zack reached for the vase, placing it strategically between him and the woman. He busied his fingers, the soft petals smooth like glass.

"Cloud?" she mused. "Cloud's his name, then?"

Zack nodded. "Yeah."

Aeris reached out, pushing the glass vase out of the plucked Zack's hands up, laying them flat on the surface of the table. Her delicate fingers ran circles over his thumbs. "Where were you all this time?"

Zack extracted his hands, placing them back on the mug, eyes glazing over. "I don't think I can talk about that yet, Aeris." His voice was filled with bitterness he couldn't hide. He stood, the legs of the chair squealig against the floorboards. "I'm going to go upstairs, check on Cloud," he said in a slightly forced tone.

Aeris winced at the sound.

He gave her a short smile that did not reach his eyes, an attempt to calm the girl and stop her from following. "You should stay down here for now." Zack pushed the chair in before he began to trek through the room. "Your mom will probably be home soon. She never really liked me."

His SOLDIER boots clunked on the ground, up the stairs and out of sight.

"What happened to you?" Aeris asked, knowing that her question would only be left unanswered, floating through the air. She laid her head down against the smooth table and wept.

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He looked so peaceful lying there, wrapped in the comforter. His blond hair was clean and shiny like a racing chocobo's soft feathers. The rhythmic sound of his heart soothed Zack; it didn't sound as if it was about to stop any time soon.

Zack sat cross-legged on the floor near a pile of decorative pillows and stuffed animals, his violet eyes tracing the fine lines of sleep on Cloud's face.

"See, kid," Zack gave a fraction of a smile, "I told you I'd take good care of you. I didn't break _that_ promise at least." The sleeping boy didn't stir. "Do you remember when you asked me, way back when, who my girlfriend was? Yeah, well, that was her. Her name's Aeris and I can already see that she likes you." The man pondered his next sentence for a moment, wording it correctly, "Well, I hope she doesn't like you too much..."

Blue mako eyes opened a little. "Zack?" the boy grumbled, his tongue running over his teeth.

Zack went to his knees, leaning closer to the boy, bending over the bed. "Hey! Morning, Cloud. Boy, you gave us a scare not too long ago. Thought I was going to piss myself, you know."

The blond lifted his hand to his eyes, rubbing the grogginess away. "Huh?" his voice cracked and he tried to lift his head from the softness of the pillow.

"Don't rush yourself." Zack gently pushed him back into the pink pillow. "Holy, you're going to kill me for letting her dress you in that. You're pretty lucky, though. I thought she might've wanted to put your hair in pigtails after we gave you a bath."

"Huh?" Cloud cocked his head a short distance, confusion evident in his clear eyes; the fog of mako poisoning was gone like the wisps of green. "Zack, what?" he mumbled, "where are we? Why did you let me sleep in?"

Zack glanced at Cloud, bewildered. "What're you talking about? You crashed out on Aeris's table. Don't you remember?"

"No, I remember everything. Mom's going to kill me though; I told her we'd both have breakfast with her last night. Aren't you the one forgetting? I mean, weren't you who told her you wanted a home cooked meal?"

Zack's breath hitched. _How in the world am I going to explain this? _he thought, his fingers picking at a loose string on the blanket.

"Uh, Cloud, we aren't in Nibelheim."

Cloud's eyes widened.

"We haven't been there for quite some time, actually."

The blond pushed himself up on his elbows. "What do you mean?" his voice came low, his breath stifled. "Where are we?" Blue eyes darted around the room, taking in the sight of flowers and feminine touches. "Are we in Gongaga? Is this _your _room?"

Zack would have laughed if it hadn't been such a touchy situation. His face curved into a small frown as he hoisted his body up, sitting on the mattress that dipped down with his weight. "Cloud, you don't remember anything about what's been happening lately, do you? What was the last thing you remember?"

_Do you remember the needles, the screams? How about your hometown burning to the ground, the fiery pits of Gaia's core, Sephiroth standing at the center of it all? Do you remember the cut on your stomach or of the gashes on your arms from the constant jabbing?_

"We'd just gotten back to the inn from my house. Mom made you stew and we'd both promised to come back in the morning for pancakes. You completely flattered her, y'know. She said I had made good friends." Cloud's eyes narrowed at Zack, who groaned.

He didn't remember the fire.

"It looks like someone killed your puppy. What's wrong? And isn't Aeris that girl you had a thing for back in Midgar? The one with the flowers?" Cloud looked around the room again. "Wait, why are we in Midgar? You said that I crashed out on Aeris's table? How'd that happen?"

Zack gently placed his hand on Cloud's head, running his fingers through the blond tresses. "Cloud... there was an accident, back at Nibelheim."

The kid began to struggle, attempting to get out of bed. "Let go! I have to get home." He pushed Zack's hand away, pulling the covers from his body. Cloud shivered.

"Haven't you heard anything I've said?" Zack asked, trying to sound calm and reassuring. It sounded cracked and drained. "We're in Midgar. Nibelheim is too far away. What's left of it."

"'What's left'?" Cloud's voice fled from his throat, his eyes growing as wide. "Wh-what do you mean, 'What's left'?"

"There was a fire, Cloud. About five years ago. You and I survived... I think we were the only ones. Your mother, she didn't make it. I'm so sorry."

"What?" Cloud's eyes filled with tears, his teeth biting into his bottom lip. "Mom's gone? She's dead? No. No, no, no!" he yelled, his voice broken. "You're lying, it's not true!"

The whimpering made Zack's chest heave, the feeling of dread encompassing his entire being. His own parents were still alive, according to Cissnei. He had no experience telling someone the woman they care for, or any loved one for that matter, was gone. Death was unnatural territory.

"Come here." The man grabbed Cloud's shaking shoulders, pulling him forward into his chest. The sobbing grew louder and Zack's hand had gone numb from all the clutching. Cloud's other hand wound itself into Zack's SOLDIER uniform, twisting in the tear tracks, blood and grime smeared down the front. "I don't know what to do, Cloud," he whispered into the blond's hair, "I just don't."

* * *

"I'm going out," Zack stated as he came down the stairs. The tear stains on his SOLDIER uniform were cool against his skin.

"What're you going to do?" Aeris turned around from the sink, wiping her hands on the nearby towel, her eyes inquiring.

"I'm gonna get a job," he said, running his hand through his uneven hair.

"You don't have to. You can come sell flowers with me tomorrow," Aeris pointed out, rubbing her hands together. "And aren't you rushing yourself."

Zack snorted. "Aeris, I'm a SOLDIER. Or ex-SOLDIER considering the facts. Do you think that someone who has that much training is going to be selling _flowers_? And... I think that if I stay here, with Cloud upstairs, I may go nuts."

Aeris shrugged her shoulders in defeat. "Well, it was worth a try. You make sure you come back before supper. I'll go make acquaintance with Cloud in a little while." She turned away and picked up the glasses around the kitchen, lining them up next to the sink like soldiers.

Zack nodded, picking up the sword glistening near the door."I'll be back soon. Try not to scare Cloud. He's a bit shaken up at the moment."

The woman nodded shortly and Zack could see from the sway of her hips that if she was mad, it wouldn't last long. "Why, you make me sound like I'm mean!"

He followed the flowers down the path, walking between the lilies and daisies toward the city, trying to remember the Sector with the best jobs. Six was out of the question – Zack wasn't going to whore himself or sell drugs – and Sector Five only had one materia shop and a hut that sold bangles that fell apart and grenades.

"What the fuck, I'm a mercenary. Jack of all trades. There's gotta be _something_ here," he mused. A sign tacked to a nearby aluminum house gave him the answer.

"'AVALANCHE, protectors of the world against the corruption of Shinra!'? What type of moron would post something like that here?" he laughed, rubbing his eyes with the pads of his fingers. In the corner of the poster was a small drawing of a number seven, then an angel.

"Shit, this is too easy." Zack pulled the sheet down, shoving it into his pocket.

* * *

The bar, Seventh Heaven, hadn't changed in years. It was still in the heart of Sector Seven and the drunks laying out front, some with rather distorted black eyes, had only changed faces. It was the same as it had been six years prior, when the Seventh Heaven had first been established. Zack remembered the first time he and Reno got drunk here, way back when. Five years or not, the place was the same, even the trash cans outside were the same.

"Doesn't smell any different," was Zack's first response to the bar. He walked up the rickety stairs, bullet holes marring the surface, the smell of booze becoming more apparent. A loud, booming voice greeted the man as he stepped into the bar. All eyes turning toward him.

Zack walked calmly forward past a half a dozen or so men and women, sitting himself it the last stool. He had, once upon a time, carved his name into the rotting wood, and he smiled shortly when he noticed the chiseled word was still clear.

"What can I get you?" the woman, a brunette with long, flowing hair, asked as she cleaned the glasses. Zack admired her clean form, something of a rarity in the slums.

"I need to talk to the owner of this place," he answered, "and a beer wouldn't be too out of the question either."

The woman nodded absently and reached her gloved fingers into a nearby crate. "That's five gil," she said automatically, popping the cap off. Zack's fingers pulled out a five-gil note and tossed it onto the table. The bartender put it in the till before half a dozen guns were aimed at his skull.

"You don't do this to all of your customers, do you? Or is it just the special ones?" Zack lifted the beer to his lips and took a sip. "Eh, not bad."

"You're Shinra-what do you want?"

He could hear his breath and the clicking off of several safety locks. Guns aimed at his head... why did this feel so familiar? "I wanted a beer?" Zack said as he took another sip.

"Either you're a tad dumb or sometin's up." A black man walked forward, a long gun attached to his arm. "You start talkin', boy, or I'm gunna load you with lead."

Zack coughed, reaching back into his pocket, pulling out the torn 'AVALANCHE' flier. "It said to come here. I thought a resistance group would know a little bit about mercenary work. That is what you're doing, right? Hiring?"

A woman lowered her two guns but the other five didn't move.

"How did you find us?" the woman asked, pushing her guns into the holders on her hips. She walked forward, pushing past two of the men. Her deft fingers grabbed the flier, looking at it as if it somehow had a map hidden between the lines.

"I don't know if old Billy told you when he sold the place but he wasn't the one to name this bar. While drunk off our asses one night, Reno and I drew a bunch of doodles into the counter-" Zack traced over the small seven and the angel, carved next to his name, "-with a steak knife. Old Billy just thought it was the coolest."

"Wait, are you tellin' me you named this place?" the bartender asked.

"Yup, me and Reno."

"Who's Reno?"

Zack took another sip of his beer. "The Turk."

"You know Turks? You a spy?" the black man asked, pointing his weapon at Zack's head.

_Wonder how many rounds he could pop in my skull without me dying. _"I was a SOLDIER, First-Class. Now, well... I'm not too fond of Shinra."

The bartender's wine-colored eyes widened. "What's your name?"

A cocky smile spread across the SOLDIER's face. "The name's Zack Fair."

"Put your guns down!" the bartender yelled to the people in the room.

"Tifa, ya sure? He just said he was a SOLDIER," one of the men, very wide around the stomach, asked.

Tifa made a shooing motion. "He's fine. Just go back to eating, Wedge." She pushed her hand through her long mane of hair, leaning forward. With little discreetness the weapons went back on the table or into holsters. The only one who didn't lower his weapon was the black man, who merely put the safety lock on.

"Tifa? As in the little Nibelheim girl with the cow-boy hat? The tour guide?"

The woman winced, but nodded her head. "That would be me," she said, tilting her head down a small bit in embarrassment.

"Ah, forget it." Zack waved his hand before him. "It was a long time ago. So, let's talk about hiring me."

"Why should we hire you? You a part of Shinra, a bloodsucka'," the man grumbled, sitting down a few seats away. His gun arm was something Zack never saw before; how does one get one of those things grafted on an arm? Better yet, which nutcase doctor would think to graft a weapon on a hand? Scarlet was technically a doctor, if he remembered correctly, so maybe there were crazies who would find it funny.

Tifa gave the man a reproachful look. "Barret, I trust him. You should know that I don't give out trust easily. Now, about hiring, we're in need of another person. The next mission isn't going to be too nice and we're going to need as many men on hand as possible. I think we should hire him."

Barret gave an appalled grunt.

"What would the job entail?" he asked, glancing over at a clock, noting the time to be a quarter after five. Aeris would want him back before six.

"Well, we plan on doing our first true protest soon." Tifa chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "A massive explosion of the Mako Reactor in Sector One."

Zack blinked slowly before nodding his head. "Blowing up a Mako Reactor? That wouldn't be very helpful to the slum's economy, you know." Gaia, it wouldn't be helpful for anyone... but being a mercenary would be about taking jobs he didn't like... He hated Shinra more than the idea, anyway.

"Well, Shinra ain't helpin' the world with all the mako they's suckin' up either! They's killin' the planet! We can' jus' stand 'round and wait for them to stop, cause it ain't gunna happen. We gotta take charge now, 'fore the planet loses the rest of its life!"

"I... I don't have a right to question your motives. I'll be around some time tomorrow so we can talk details. I better get going, but I'll be back tomorrow." He took a final swig of his drink before smacking it down to the table. He was half-way out of the room before he turned back around. "Hey, do you think you might need another person besides myself? I've got a friend who may just be up for the job."

Tifa nodded her head once, going back to scrubbing at the wood. "The more the merrier!" she shouted through the rumblings of the nearby people.

Zack nodded once more before exiting the bar, tossing the flier down to the ground, stepping back down the stairs. No imagination was necessary to understand why hundreds of bullets were stuck inside the wood.

"Terrorists," Zack laughed, shoving his hands into his pockets.

* * *

"You need more clothes." Aeris brushed the hair out of her green eyes, sweat glistening on her forehead. She wrung out the SOLDIER uniform, looking at the bloody water, dirt and grime floating like clouds in the soapy suds. She pulled out the stopper, brown water to swivel down the drain.

"Tell me about it. You know how gross it is to have to wear the same clothes I was wearing five years ago? I swear, it smelled nasty." Zack twitched his nose.

"Zack, you haven't changed at all. Still, you are extraordinarily lucky my mother kept some of her husband's old clothes. It would have been a disastrous event if you had to run around without your clothes on."

Zack pulled on the gray pants, a bit too large for him. "Well, at least I'm not wearing a shirt with a chocobo on it. Poor Cloud," the black-haired man snickered as Aeris wrung out the last of the water from his dark pants, tossing them in a nearby plastic basket.

"Well, he could fit into just about anything, he's so skinny. You should be happy I didn't put him in one of my nightgowns." Aeris touched the dark blue sweater-vest, her graceful fingers gliding along a shredding hole. "Hand me the sewing kit, please." The woman reached out her hand to where Zack sat on the toilet, playing with the seam of his pants.

He handed her the needle and black thread. Her fingers worked with diligence. It always surprised Zack how quick she was with a needle, how the hole, no matter the size, was patched up easily enough.

"I remember trying to teach you how to sew the first time you came to me with a hole in your uniform." The smile on her face was the same as it had been six years prior. She waved her finger. "'_Don't sew your fingers to the shirt, Zack! Do you have any idea how bad rottins skin smells like?'" _

"Hey, I told you I was practically useless when it came to any of those 'homely' things. A SOLDIER learns how to kill someone with one finger, how to strategically destroy an entire city, the art of stealth-"

"Yet they can't cook, clean, or sew up their destroyed clothes. Let alone clean them, mind you." The woman stuck her tongue out.

The ex-SOLDIER clamped his hand across his chest, as though he was covering a bleeding wound. "Oh, right through the heart, my dear. And it isn't like my mentor didn't try to teach me. He just failed horribly."

A knock silenced the two. The door jarred open, and two mako-blue eyes peered in.

Aeris smiled and situated herself into a more comfortable sitting position, still clutching the needle. "Well, hello there. Come on in, though there really isn't much room. Zack, move your feet so he can get by." Her halo of brown hair covered her face as she finished the few last touches on the sweater, Cloud not having moved from the doorway.

Zack looked to the blond kid standing at the door, his pale fingers a contrast against the wood. He looked so young, like he had five years previous, no creases of age or worry etched into his delicate skin. He was wearing a long blue shirt with a warking white chocobo on the front, the words 'Chocobo's are cute!' across the top of the shirt. His face was filled with tension and though Zack knew the boy would never admit it, a small tinge of nervousness and embarrassment. His feet were awkwardly positioned, not being inside the room with the others, but seemingly wanting to take him there.

"There, done. Now I have to wash it." Aeris turned the water on hot, adding a splash of cleaner to the water.

"Aeris, did you get to cleaning Cloud's clothes?"

"Yes, it's clean, but needs to dry. You'll have to stay in that for a while longer. They will by dry by tomorrow afternoon." Her green eyes glanced over to the clothes, then back to the blond. A large smile graced her face.

"Um, thank you," the boy stumbled over his words, obviously not used to the kindness the woman was radiating. "Thank you for cleaning my clothes. I'm not that good at it."

Aeris looked pointedly towards Zack. "Those people have to teach you the necessities of surviving without your mother."

"Well," the raven-haired man picked at his hair with a comb that had been previously on the counter, "we aren't going back, so I doubt there will be any need to tell them how to treat their grunts and SOLDIERs." The man huffed for a moment, slamming the comb against the counter, pulling at a large chunk of hair which refused to unknot.

"Oh Zack, you're hopeless." Aeris dropped the shirt and wiped her hands on her pink dress. She yanked his head down and asked Cloud to hand her the comb.

"Just don't cut it," Zack begged.

"I doubt she'll cut your hair, Zack." Cloud looked down at his feet, his fingers playing with the design on the front of the lengthy shirt. The raven-haired man could see Cloud's milky, almost unhealthy, thighs. There were various small incisions across the pale skin, making Zack wince. He told himself that this reaction was because of the sharp tug Aeris gave to his hair, the knot staying firmly in place.

"Hey, kid, you don't know how evil this girl can be." This gained him a light pull on his tresses. "Oh, don't be so mean, Aeris. My hair is the most beautiful thing on this planet, you know, and to rip it out would be just a waste of perfection-" Aeris gave a hard yank, _"Ow! That fuckin'__** hurt!**__"_

The two other occupants in the room laughed, Aeris near hysterics, Cloud snickering ever so lightly.

"She didn't pull that hard," Cloud stated, taking a hesitant step forward. He kneeled next to Aeris, lifting Zack's head up, who still had swear words passing his lips. Aeris sat back, her laughter shaking her body rhythmically back and forth.

"You're such a puppy." Cloud ran his hands over Zack's head in a petting gesture. Suddenly, the laughter in his eyes dwindled to a trace. He stared off, a bit confused. "A puppy."

Zack's ears rang with the words. "A puppy?" he repeated. "Have you ever called me that before?" Cloud shrugged his shoulders and ran his fingers back through Zack's wet hair.

"I don't know. Have I?" Cloud jerked his head to the side. Aeris had quieted now and was watching the scene unravel in front of her eyes.

"I'm not really sure."

* * *

Aeris's mother, Elmyra, was not pleased with the two men in her home. It was clear by her tense actions, her short and cold reception.

"Mom, you remember Zack? And that's his friend, Cloud." Zack lifted his hand and gave a wave, but when the woman's eyes glared, he dropped it to his side. Cloud's eyes stayed trained on the glass of water in front of him, tracing the rim of the cup.

"I remember him." Elmyra glanced at her daughter's face. "They aren't staying here."

Aeris' mouth gaped open. "They've nowhere to go-"

"Well, apparently he did when he just walked off and didn't come back, didn't he?"

Her daughter huffed.

"Mother, please come over here." Aeris dragged her mother away from the kitchen table by her arm, across the room and out the front door, that had been left wide open. Aeris turned and gave Zack a reassuring smile before swinging the door shut.

"What are they saying?" Cloud didn't lift his eyes from the glass. Zack sighed and put his hands behind his head, leaning back on the chair. Two of the wooden legs went into the air.

"Eh, I don't know. I can't hear them. I can imagine that Mrs. G. is telling Aeris that I'm an evil monster who left her for five years without call, yadda, yadda, yadda. She never liked me much anyway. Corrupting her daughter or something." Zack inhaled and then exhaled quickly.

"Five years? We were gone for five years?" Cloud asked, shocked.

"Yep," the raven-haired man answered simply.

"Where were we? Or did I just recently forget everything?"

"Well, I..." Zack stopped speaking for a moment. _Do you want to know? Really want to know? _"I don't really know the details. I can't remember all that much either."

Cloud looked up from his glass. "You wouldn't lie to me, right?"

The raven-haired man shook his head vehemently. "No! Of course not, Cloud. Why would I lie to you?"

The blond shrugged. "I don't know."

The room was uneasy, silent. Zack cocked his head to look out the window, but it was far too dark to see the silhouettes of Aeris and her mother.

"I think she still likes you, Zack," the blond said suddenly. The chair the violet-eyed man had been sitting on tilted back and hit the floor with a loud thud. "Oh Gaia, are you okay?" Cloud yelled, jumping from his chair, skirting over to the place where Zack had been sitting, throwing his hand out for assistance.

Zack rubbed his head with one hand, allowing the other to grab hold of Cloud's helping hand. "That's why I hate getting snuck up on, you know," he whined, standing still. Cloud picked up the chair, lining it back up under the table.

"You're such a klutz." Zack nodded his head. "A weirdo." He nodded his head again. "And she likes you."

"Eh, maybe. It was a long time ago, you know, chocobo-head. Anyway, how would you know?"

Cloud winced.

"Okay, that was a little harsh. Go sit down, I'm fine." Cloud nodded and went back to his chair, his head hanging low. "You know, you need to start yelling. Get mad, do something other than just follow what I say. I'm not gonna yell back at you or anything."

The seconds ticked by slowly, agonizingly. Cloud had taken to staring off into space, tugging on his night shirt. Zack hummed a random tune, waiting for the daughter and mother to come back into the house. He sat back down, the chair screeching against the floor.

"She has a white dress in her closet," Cloud broke the silence, "it has these white flowers sewn into the sides and light pink lace. She made it about five years ago when you promised her that you would marry her-"

"What?" Zack yelled in amazement. "How do you know that? I never told you about that! Hell, I only told my mentor, a nutbag, and Se-" Zack cut himself off.

Cloud looked away, embarrassed, "I'm sorry, that was out of line."

"But how do you know that?"

"I saw it when I fell asleep. It was after you told me about mom." The blond grew quiet, a small sniffle erupting from his nose. "I don't know how or why though. I wasn't even sure if it was true until I went and looked in her closet. It was tucked between a blue and white dress and a green sweater." He closed his eyes and the raven-haired man could almost see what was playing behind the eyelids.

Zack sighed, "Yeah, I did do that."

Cloud nodded his head, eyes still closed. "I thought so. She's nice, so I wouldn't worry 'bout anything."

Elmyra and Aeris entered through the front door a few minutes later, Elmyra annoyed, her daughter ecstatic.

"You guys can stay here for now." The brunette glanced at the clock near the door, "Well, supper won't be ready for a while, but I can imagine you two will be fine for an hour or so?" She didn't wait for an answer, going straight into the kitchen. Elmyra went and followed behind, leaving the two to wallow in their silence.

* * *

Cloud fell asleep on the bed in Aeris's room and Zack had decided to take the floor. He readied for bed, changing into his underwear, the only things which had been remotely dry. The small makeshift bed on the floor wasn't comfortable; on the contrary it was hard and the blanket folded on the floor did not keep all the cold out, but it would do.

"Zack?" Aeris whispered into the dark room.

"I'm down here, on the floor," he whispered back. The door opened and her lithe figure slipped through the crack, the door shutting with a small click. She walked forward, tip-toeing over to where the raven-haired man lay, his glowing eyes guiding her towards him in the dark. Then, after reaching her goal she dropped to her knees and rested one of her hands on his cheek.

"I missed you," she said, running her finger over the scar on his face. Zack was reminded of Cloud's fingers that short time ago, in the middle of the barren wasteland. She lied down next to him, one hand touching his chest. "I waited here for you to come back. I knew if I waited long enough you would come back for me." Her breath tickled his lips.

The space closed between the two and Zack sighed. She was so soft, her skin warm and smooth. The hand that had been tracing his face moved to his hair.

"Aeris, stop," Zack gasped out when the hand, which had moments before laid on his chest, moved to the rim of his underwear. She pulled her hand back and the raven-haired man could feel her face warming with shame.

"I'm sorry, Zack," she whispered, mortified. He chuckled, shaking his head. "I just, I just..."

"Shhh." Zack pulled the woman close. They laid there for a few minutes, Aeris listening to the heart beat of the man she loved. He said, "So you remember when we met and you said that you wouldn't do anything remotely sexual until you were married?" and Aeris laughed in shame. "Well, I don't think you're the same girl you were back then," he finished.

"No, I'm not."

Zack closed his eyes. "I think you should go back to your mom's room. She won't like waking up and finding you in here with me."

"I know. It's just been so cold without you here. The flowers bloomed, but they never had the color they had when you were around," she whispered into his neck. He shivered. "You look exactly as you did when you were eighteen. Not a thing different. That's why I knew it was you. You'd been in my dreams so often, the same face of the eighteen year old who left for that SOLDIER mission, and... I thought I had fallen asleep in the flowers."

She left him not too long later, a simple kiss left on his lips. Zack looked around the room after the door shut and he sighed. Her lips left a tingling feeling, but at the same time the feeling of coldness. It was so hard for him to feel her body pressed against his own. So many things had changed since the last time they had seen one another and though her smile and hands assured him that she was still very much in love, Zack couldn't erase the past.

* * *

**Please Review!**


	3. Old Friends

**Edited 1/5/2012**

* * *

Chapter Two: Old Friends

"I'm going to be doing what?" Cloud threw the chocobo shirt into the basket, dressing himself in the SOLDIER uniform Zack handed him. It was wrinkle-free and sewn back together, but more importantly _clean_. Zack watched the boy bury his nostrils into the shirt, taking a deep breath.

Zack pondered his words for a moment before answering, "We're going to mercenaries. You know, those people who work for hire, not really giving a shit what they do as long as they get paid? Yeah, that."

Cloud straightened out the collar of his purple shirt, looking into the mirror. "And you've gotten us jobs already? Doing what?" Cloud pulled at his shirt nervously. Zack folded his arms, sitting down on Aeris's bed.

"Well, there's this organization called AVALANCHE that hired me and you-"

Cloud huffed, "Zack, spit it out. Really, what are we doing? Sure, there's always an organization, but what do we have to _do_?"

Zack made a face, his lips twisting. "Ugh, fine. We've got to go blow up some Mako Reactor. No biggie."

The look that adorned Cloud's face was priceless. "Holy! Blow up a Mako Reactor? Have you lost all of your common sense? That's _terrorism_!"

"Well, no shit, Cloud. I think the whole of Sector Five just heard you."

The blond grabbed Zack by the shoulders, shaking him. "Have you completely lost your mind! They're going to _kill_ us! We're terrorists. You want me to be a terrorist!"

"Quit addling my brains, kid. And yep," the words popped from his lips, "we're gonna be terrorists. Well, I don't mind so long as they pay us well." Cloud let his shoulders go. "Anyway, get your white ass downstairs and eat something. We've got a long day of prepping for this job. Plus, we've got to get you some type of weapon."

Cloud rolled his eyes and sat down on the edge of the bed. "And why can't I use a gun or something? I'm sure a bunch of terrorists would have a few guns lying around somewhere."

Zack laughed. "You, with a gun? Do you remember when you shot your commanding officer in the shoulder during target practice? You've got a shitty shot and there's no way in hell I'm going to happily put a gun in your hands. I'll go buy you a sword or something when we get to Sector Seven. There's supposed to be some awesome blacksmith there. They might have something that you can use. Anything but a gun."

Cloud cracked a smile, but rolled his eyes. "It wasn't my fault, you know. I tried to shoot at the target, but the ass just got in the way. And either way, the man deserved it." The blond shrugged his shoulders and stood up, exiting the pink room. Before he left, his fingers touched the roses in the vase on the dresser.

"You know, I never thought that flowers could ever bloom in the slums. The kids in Nibelheim once took a flower and dumped it into a pond of mako. It withered and died, crystallizing, a memory of a flower." Cloud removed one of the blossoms, spinning it between his thumb and pointer finger. "They're so small, so easily crushed." His hand ran over one of the petals, before tightening. The flower made a squelching noise as blood red coloring oozed from the petals.

"You're weird, you know that, right, Cloud?"

Cloud dropped the destroyed rose into the pocket of his pants. "Perhaps."

* * *

The walk took the better part of an hour. The train was inaccessible thanks to the check-points and Zack didn't want to inform the whole of Shinra there were two highly-sought experiments loose in the center of the Midgar slums.

"So, where is this weapon shop?" Cloud's hands were buried inside his pockets as he walked with a sloppy grace. He trailed behind the ex-SOLDIER, following to a three-story building made of various metals. Screams filtered from the third floor window, the sound of various machines from the first.

"Well, you're standing in front of it," Zack replied, pulling the door open wide to enter the shop. The smell of fuel, motor oil and sweat mingled in the man's nose. "Come on, hurry it up, buddy. We've only got a few minutes before the crazies expect us to get there and I don't know about you, but I don't wanna piss them off from the get-go."

Cloud's blue eyes opened drastically at the assortment of weapons adorning the walls. Machine guns, knives of hundreds of shapes and sizes, batons and bats were just the beginning. Gloves on mannequin hands, chains, whips and swords, bullets with mako-filled centers, combustible shotgun shells, staves, weapons everywhere. The man at the counter had done a good job at keeping the place stocked with the best weapons he could create from hand. He was currently working on a set of bangles; the bronze gleamed in the dim light.

"No guns?" Cloud asked as he glided his finger over a bullet case.

"I want my ass to stay firmly un-shot, thanks." Zack threw a knife up in the air, catching it swiftly with his other hand. He continued this morbid juggle until the man behind the counter snapped, "Quit throwin' those things around! You gonna put somebody in hospital."

"Hey, don't get so defensive, gramps." The knife was placed back on the display table. "I wasn't going to poke anyone's eyes out. No harm done." The man hmphed in response and went back to work on the bangles.

Zack watched Cloud touch a long staff, then place it back down. He was nibbling at his lip, brows were furrowed in concentration.

"Do you have any more swords?" Cloud asked the man behind the counter, who rolled his eyes.

"Yep, I'll go grab some from the back." The man tossed the bangle to the table, ignorant of the loud thunk. He stepped behind a thick brown sheet, disappearing for a few moments. He came back with several swords in his hands, still sheathed. "I don't have anything like that big son-of-a-bitch on your friend's back, but these are trusty swords. Do good damage and are probably a shit-load lighter than that hunk of metal."

Zack gaped in outrage, "I'll have you know this sword was made by one of the best swordsmiths in Gaia, buddy." Zack's violet eyes narrowed, glaring at the man.

"And I don't give two shits. It's a lugger of a piece and there's no way this kid here can possibly carry something even half of its size." The man turned to look at Cloud, sizing him up. "Now, boy, I suggest sumtin' like this-" He pulled one of the swords from the stack, unsheathed it and passed it to the blond.

Cloud took it from the man, his eyes tracing over the weapon. "This one won't work. It's too light. I trained with something a bit heavier. I won't be able to properly balance without something that weighs more." He handed the thin blade back to the man.

"How 'bout this one?" the black-smith handed over a short sword with a long point. Cloud did not even take it into his hands, shaking his head. He tilted his head up, scanning the wall again for a weapon he might have overlooked. Zack looked up too, but saw nothing that caught his eye. But, Cloud did.

"That one-" Cloud pointed to a long katana, his hand trembling, "I want to try _that _one."

"But Cloud," Zack started, "You've never learned how to handle one. I know you can use basics, but something like katana were solely for-"

"SOLDIER, First-Class," the boy remarked, his voice bitter, "but I can do it. Zack, you know I can."

Zack rubbed his hand through his spiky black locks. "Heh, go ahead and pull the sucker down."

The black-smith pulled out a ladder, put it down in front of him and began climbing up. It took a moment for him to un-bolt the sword from its stand, but when he handed it over to Cloud, Zack saw the sparkle in the boy's eyes.

"Go ahead an' unsheathe it," the man prompted, sitting back down. His hand touched the bangles and the tool, but he did not look away from Cloud. The blond did as he was bid. Zack saw the pure pleasure run through his face. His eyes magnified, touching the weapon as if it was a small child.

"Perfect weight. Not too flashy. Maybe a tad too short, but I think this is good." Cloud twirled the hilt around, the metal flying, causing prisms of light to catch on the blade. "Zack, I think this is as good as it's going to get for me."

"Here, give it to me." Zack took the weapon from his friend's hand, twirling it expertly. It flashed as Zack swung the blade. "Eh, not my cup of tea, but it isn't so bad. How much?" Zack handed the katana back to Cloud, who re-sheathed it and placed it on the glass counter.

"Four hundred."

Cloud whistled. "That's way too much, Zack," he whispered. "I can get the gun, you know."

Zack snorted. "Like I said, like holy I'm going to let you shoot me. How 'bout three-fifty?" The raven-haired man pulled out his wallet and placed two hundred gil notes and a fifty on the counter. "Will that be enough?"

"I guess," the man snatched the money off the counter, placing it protectively inside of the cash register. The man didn't even count to check how much he had taken (which had, in fact, been far less than what he had admitted to).

The pair left the store, Cloud strapping the new sword onto his back. "So, where do we need to go now?" he asked, back to following the older man. His fingers would occasionally reach over to fiddle with the hilt.

"We've gotta get more details on the mission they hired us for. I don't know about you, but I think this may be fun. We'd be getting back at Shinra!"

"But why would we need to get back at Shinra?"

Zack coughed out the excess air that invaded his lungs. "Hey, you alright?" Cloud asked as the raven-haired man leaned against a nearby building, sputtering. The blond stopped to pat him on the back, almost reassuring.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Zack coughed once more, shaking his head. "Sorry 'bout that. We should get to the bar in a minute or so. I don't want that guy with the gun grafted onto his arm to shoot my ass."

Cloud cracked a small smile. "Yeah, let's go." Strangely, he did not ask anything further on Shinra. Zack wasn't able to keep the relief from washing over him in warm cascades.

* * *

The bar was empty. The two ex-Shinra workers stood out front on the bullet-hole riddled ground, staring into the bar. There was a small child, probably around the age of six, scrubbing the counter down with a dirty wash-rag. Her short hair was in pigtails, small yellow ribbons wrapped around the ends. She had a soft face, fairly plain but angelic at once. She looked up from her chore, doe brown eyes large and curious.

"I'm sorry. We're closed right now." The girl went back to scrubbing at the table, dipping the washrag in soapy water.

"Uh, we were told to come by. Well, I actually said that I was going to come by today, but that really isn't important." Zack walked forward, weaving through the misplaced chairs and tables, to sit at the bar. Cloud looked around for a moment as if he expected someone to jump out of nowhere and yell 'Boo!' but followed.

"Are you the spiky-headed bastard daddy was talking about?" The girl shirked away from the two men sitting on the stools.

Cloud chuckled.

"Uh, yeah, that'd be me, kiddy. So, where are they? I thought they'd be around here somewhere, but I'm kinda lost," Zack questioned, running his hand through his hair. The girl gave a soft smile, jerking her head to a nearby pinball machine. It was bright orange but the words on the piece of paper told Zack that it was 'Broken'.

"Huh? Kid, I'm not good at pinball and anyway it's busted." Zack pointed to the sign, showing the girl that it was, indeed, out of order.

"No, go hit the side of it with your foot. It'll take you to daddy." The girl smiled at Zack, whose violet eyes opened in disbelief.

"Uh, alright then, kiddo," Zack looked over to the blond at his side, whispering, "Let's just humor the kid." Cloud nodded agreement. They both stood up and walked over to the machine.

"So, just kick it?" Zack asked again, pointing to his foot and then to the side. She nodded her head enthusiastically. "Alrighty then, move you great big hunk of junk!" His boot smashed into the side. It was still for a moment.

"Holy!" Cloud grabbed onto the machine. One foot had not been on the platform, which had begun to move, and he nearly fell. Zack managed to stay on his feet. The two, Cloud shaking slightly, got off the platform. It was a small, secret hideout, a computer sitting in the corner and a small table with chairs towards the middle. There was a punching bag in the corner of the room and a flickering television placed on another desk. Blueprints were pinned to the walls, black pins and red marker covering the surface. Zack scanned the group of people, his violet eyes meeting the gaze of every member present.

"Well, I thought I'd seen cheesy things on the television, but damn, that tops them all." He jerked his head, black spikes flying, to the pinball machine that was starting to return upwards to the bar. "How the hell did you manage to rig that thing anyway? It isn't all that easy to make something like that."

The woman from the day before raised her hand. She was pretty, her dark brown hair tied out of her way in a quick bun, a headband securing it. She had been typing something a moment before, the keyboard on her knees. "That would be me," she said and stuck out her hand, not moving from the computer chair. Zack leaned forward and shook it. "The name's Jessie."

"You're some kinda woman. I'll be damned if many people in Shinra could do something like that, especially with the few materials people in the slums are able to get their hands on." Zack dropped the woman's hand and looked back towards Cloud, who was once again picking at his shirt.

"That the kid you wanted us to hire too?" Barret looked at Cloud as though he was an insect. "You gotta be shittin' me, spiky head. Wat's ya name, boy?"

Cloud straightened himself out, changing his stance, "Cloud Strife."

At the announcement, a loud gasp came from the corner.

"Cloud?"

"Is that you, Tifa?" Cloud stared numbly at the woman. She had grown from the popular little girl with smiles to a woman, her curves and bust line proving that time had most certainly passed. Her hair had grown long, far longer than it had been and Zack could see on Cloud's face that he was wondering how long ago he had last seen her. Five years, right?

"Cloud Strife," the woman said, mouth opened in awe. She covered it with her hand, almost in tears. "Oh, it's so good to see you!" she exclaimed, running forward to hug the unsuspecting blond.

"Uh, hello, Tifa. It's been, uh, a long time, hasn't it?" Cloud awkwardly patted the woman on the back.

"Tif, you know this pip-squeak?" Barret asked, taken aback. He stood up and rammed his fist, the human one rather than its mechanical counterpart, into the nearby punching bag. "What's with you knowin' all o' these Shinra scum? You hate Shinra!"

Tifa let go of Cloud. "But I knew them before I hated Shinra. They're good people. I've known Cloud here since we were little," Tifa punctuated the remark by gesturing towards knee-height, "and I know I can trust him. Zack, I've known for about five years." She quieted then, face going slack, wine-colored eyes downcast. She tried to cheer herself up, smiling her large smile. "You can trust them, Barret. I promise you that."

The large black man glared at Cloud. "And I don' suppose you know why we're here, do you?"

Cloud shrugged and said, "All I know is you hired Zack and needed another person. I would like to know a bit more, especially if you're sending us on some type of wild goose chase or suicide mission." The boy withdrew his katana from the sheath on his back and placed it on the nearby table, situating himself in one of the seats at the table. Three other people sat, waiting. Cloud looked at them. "So, are you going to explain this or am I going to ust have to make assumptions?"

Zack followed the suit, pulling out his Buster Sword and taking a seat in another vacant chair. Barret and Tifa did so as well, but Zack was too busy staring at Cloud to notice.

Something had changed. The embarrassed teenager who didn't even want to be the Planet's savior or have a part with a terrorist organization such as AVALANCHE was now ordering around the long-time members. He hadn't even wanted to come an hour before, had only caved at the prospect of Zack pulling the blond there by force if he hadn't walked forward himself. He almost expected Cloud to put his feet up on the table, smearing his dirty boots against the plans.

"So, what do we have to do?" Cloud folded his hands in front of him, looking at the people around the table, "You know what? Better yet, who are you?"

"Well, this is Biggs." Tifa pointed a finger - Zack noted the pair of leather gloves she wore with the finger-holes cut out - to a man looking through a dirty magazine. He waved a hand nonchalantly, not even glancing up from a picture of a woman with little clothing on. There was an article on the page, but that was certainly not where the man's eyes were glued to. "That's Wedge," she indicated, another man at the table who was engrossed by a cheeseburger.

"'Ello," the man nearly choked on the food he bit into.

Tifa sighed, rolling her eyes wearily, nodding towards Jessie. "Jessie has already introduced herself and you know me, but this guy over here," Tifa playfully swatted the black man's arm, "is Barret. He's the leader of this organization. We're called AVALANCHE."

Cloud nodded his head, blue eyes tracing over the people at the table.

"Hey, who's the little kid upstairs?" Zack asked, remembering the smiling child.

"That's Marlene, Barret's daughter."

Zack blinked, remembering that the girl had pale, almost sickly white colored skin, one of the few color choices when you lived in the slums. That kid was definitely not biologically related to the guy with a gun grafted into his arm, a sinister look plastered on his face as he considered Cloud.

"Ah, alright." Zack nodded his head. He wanted to ask why a small child, a girl at that, was scrubbing down the wooden bar, but he didn't. The look of Barret was too unnerving to make him open his mouth. "So, let's talk a little more about this plan of yours," Zack said instead, his purple eyes glowing.

"And perhaps I can mention how stupid it sounds right from the start," Cloud joined immediately, gaining several dirty looks.

* * *

"They could have killed you, ya dodo-brain!" Zack laughed as the two walked home, brains slightly addled from their encounter with the terrorist organization. They had survived the meeting of hardcore terrorists, not a mark on them.

"What, they expect to go into a Mako reactor with a half-assed plan and a bag of tricks up their sleeves? I remember the SOLDIER trial runs. They were a hundred times more difficult than blowing up a reactor, yet we came up with good enough ideas, right?" Cloud looked over to his raven-haired friend, a small smile splayed on his face.

Zack looked back to the blue-eyed boy, a smirk plastered on his face. "Well, they had a few good points, anyway. You know, about how to make the reactor blow? I think it was that Jessie girl. She could have worked for Shinra if she wanted. God knows the Turks would take her in an instant. In any case, we've got a week and a half to get ready for this thing. So maybe we should go kill some monsters for the hell of it?"

Cloud contemplated the thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think we should. I want to get used to using this katana." He nodded as the two walked off the beaten path, the blond pulling out his sword with his right hand, preparing for battle.

* * *

Sector One was quiet. The sounds of the passing train made the ground shake as its wheels grinded against metal tracks. Jessie, the genius, had managed to create several fake identification cards decent enough to trick the Shinra system, prompting Zack to proclaim his undying love for her, which in turn caused her face to turn a crimson hue.

"Funny thing is that he'd be serious too if it wasn't for Aeris," Cloud interrupted the two, looking up from his spot on the floor to regard Jessie, who was now looking at the floor of the car, ashamed. "Anyway, why isn't Tifa here? I remember her saying that she wanted to come along."

The brunette glanced over to Barret, who was yelling at Biggs. "Well, Barret told her to stay behind. No one was able to take care of Marlene and he hates leaving her alone. Either way, if he had been able to find someone to take care of her or not, I don't think she would be coming with us. Barret has a big-brother complex."

Zack nodded empathetically, sitting down on the floor. There was plenty of room for him to take a seat on a chair, the bums lazing in the next car over, but he wanted to sit with Cloud. He had gone to his knees, then to his ass a few minutes before when the train had taken off.

"Hey buddy." Zack smacked Cloud's knee lightly in a friendly gesture.

The boy pulled his legs closer to his body, placing them underneath his chin. "I hate things that move," he grumbled, a grimace crossing his face. A shade of sickly white, all of the blood erased from the surface of his skin.

"You think you're going to blow chucks?" Zack asked.

Cloud made a retching noise.

"Don't be so crude," the blond gagged out, taking one hand and placing it over his mouth, trying to keep his stomach from doing flip flops.

Zack smiled understandingly, patting Cloud on his back, then upon noticing the movement was to bold - his face had begun to turn a hideous puce color - he went to rubbing circles on the boy's back, feather light and calming. Cloud's stomach seemed to become slightly soothed, a slight pink tinge returning to his otherwise white face.

"We should be arriving soon," Barret bellowed through the compartment, staring out of the grimy window, out at the Mako Reactor, its green pollution curling around the pipe, spilling the disgusting contents into the air.

"You know this is the city of fools, Cloud?" Cloud looked up from his legs, leaning into his friend's comforting hands.

"How's that?" the blond asked, looking into violet eyes.

"I think it may be something in the water, y'know. People get these weird feelings and do stupid shit, kinda like this. The people rebel and the companies flourish. Something has to be going on for this to happen. Midgar is the birthplace of fools and morons."

Cloud pondered the words for a moment. He stared out into nothingness, his eyes absorbed in what was outside of the window - or the lack of. "But, then what are we? Are we fools too? What makes us that way?"

"We," Zack laughed, causing the others to look at the two on the ground, "we are perhaps the biggest of fools. Myself, mainly. We'll never be able to see the world the way we should."

"And how is that?"

"Well, Cloud, we need to look through blood-colored glasses. Then we can see the world as what it is: a cesspool of grimy, grainy lies and utter fallacies." Zack patted Cloud on the back one last time, before standing up and saying out the the car, "Well, I think we've gotten to Sector One, guys."

Cloud reached over his head, his fingers finding the smooth hilt of his katana.

"Are you nervous?" Zack asked, lending the boy a helping hand to get to his own feet.

The blond stared at him. "I've been puking up for how long? What do you think?" He leaned up and flicked right between the man's violet eyes, making them go watery and eliciting a loud yell from Zack.

"Ouch! That hurt!" Zack cried, covering his eyes.

Cloud nodded stiffly, smoothing out the creases in his shirt. "Well, then think before you talk."

Zack grumbled.

* * *

The Mako Reactor was enormous. Zack touched the door panel, sticking his finger on the numbers '7263', the metal door opening, the words "Access Granted," monotoned by a computer generated voice. The smell of mako wafted through his senses and the raven-haired man had to step back from the overpowering stench.

"A'ight, we've got about thirty minutes to bring this piece of junk down to the ground. Spiky-head, chocobo and me are gonna go set the bomb."

Cloud pulled his katana from his back, brandishing it smoothly. Zack followed suit, his fingers feeling the metal hilt of the sword.

"Hey, why are you still calling us by those stupid names?" Cloud asked the burly male.

Barret narrowed his dark eyes at the two, clipping the safety on his gun off. "Cuz you ain't got my respect, boy. I don' trust yo' kind." The man loaded a few bullets into the nearby window to emphasize the point. It shattered, leaving in its wake a field of sharp slivers of glass, only crushed further into the metal flooring when someone walked by, trampling them.

"Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, get the combos for the rest of the reactor punched in. Then you deal with anythin' we can't."

The named trio nodded their heads before running off, Wedge closer to wobbling.

The other three walked for a moment before reaching another door. "And why don't you trust us?" Zack's lips had uttered the question, voicing the words on both Cloud's mind and his.

The black man turned around and aimed his gun at the two. "You Shinra scum. I don' care what Tifa says, once you 'cross a line there ain't no comin' back." The man shifted his arm, pointing it and showering an MP that had been running up behind the group.

"You know what? Whatever." Zack shook his head angrily as he darted forward, avoiding the spray of bullets from the black man's grafted gun and the gun the MP was firing, delivering a swift slice to the MP's stomach. Blood pooled on the floor where the man fell limp, his hand clutching at the long gash on his stomach, bleeding through his blue Shinra grunt uniform.

Zack barely spared a glance at the man lying on the floor, swinging his sword to get the blood off. Dribbles of crimson spattered the floor, far from where the MP lay, his intestines and entrails covering the otherwise clean silver floor.

The black-haired man looked up to see Barret looking approvingly at the dead grunt, though Cloud... Cloud's eyes were wide with shock, blue eyes staring into the warm red liquid, dazed.

"Come on, we have to get moving," Zack stated, looking at Cloud in particular. He walked up, shaking the boy slightly. "We need to go, we've only got about thirty minutes and I don't know about you but I have a feeling Shinra isn't going to be all that thrilled with us."

The blond nodded his head mutely, the katana in his hands dropping down.

"Get yo' asses movin'!" Barret yelled, already far ahead, shooting his gun at a group of MPs and robo-guards.

"Uh, you should take care of the robo-guards, alright?" Zack said. The boy nodded his head again as the pair advanced at a run, Zack aiming his Buster Sword for the head of a grunt, knocking the dull side against the helmet, cracking it in half.

Cloud pushed his weight into the katana, punching it deeply into a weak spot in the robo-guard's armour created by several bullets. The blade swiftly cut into the center of the robot, its arms which had been flailing moment before now stopping, the electrical current killed.

"Here-" Zack threw the blond a green orb as he dodged a sword thrust. Cloud caught it in his right hand. "It's Lightning," Zack supplied, "You'll have more use of it than I will."

"Thanks!" he yelled, pushing the materia into a slot on his katana. His fingers glowed white for a moment, then faded back to their original color. Grasping the hilt of his sword, he closed his eyes, concentrating. The nearby robo-guard, Barret's shots barely weakening it, exploded, shrapnel flying in several directions to embed in several other enemies. Cloud winced.

"Hey, do that again!" Barret yelled, pointing his gun to another of the robo-guards. Cloud nodded his head and performed the spell again. The machine gave an awful lurch, spinning around in circles, whirring. The sound was ear-splitting, it set Zack's teeth on edge.

"Turn that fucking thing off!" Zack screamed, slapping his arms around his head in protection from the horrid screeching. It was the last enemy in the way and by far the loudest.

"Eh!" The blond nearly dropped his katana as he summoned yet another bolt to appear from nowhere. It smashed into the robot and the sound stopped.

"Oh Gaia, I think I've gone deaf," Zack mumbled, returning his sword to his back, avoiding the puddles of red on the ground. He glanced at the watch on his wrist. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cloud sheath his sword, staring at the dead bodies in morbid fascination.

"We've got ten more minutes to set this damn thing off, otherwise we ain't gonna have the chance anytime soon." Barret waved his arms as he spoke, making the gesture to start moving.

As the three ran, Cloud questioned the black man, "Why does this have to happen today? Surely there would have been a better time." Zack agreed. The plan seemed to have been rushed forward a bit, starting out too late to get things properly set in concrete.

"Cuz of the output." The black man skidded to a halt at the end of the walkway, grabbing hold of a long ladder, "We got info on the output bein' upped this month, meanin'-"

Zack cut him off, "Bigger explosion."

And with that he jumped down.

"Zack!"

"Spiky!"

The black-haired man landed on his feet, looking back up at his companions. He had a small, playful smile on his face, directed solely at Cloud. "Oh, Cloudy boy, do you think I'd jump to my death? Puh-lease. Have a little faith. Now jump!" He made an insane motion with his hands, trying to entice the boy to jump.

"It's three stories, Zackary! I am _not _jumping!"

Zack could imagine the look of absolute refusal on the blond's face. He cracked a smile. "It'll get you down here faster. I promise you won't get hurt. If it looks like you're going to die, I'll catch you," Zack yelled up to his friend. The boy refused and followed Barret's example, calmly climbing down the ladder.

Barret looked ruffled when he got to the end, stopping off, mumbling under his breath.

"What was that, Barret?" Zack asked, running a hand through his hair.

The man's dark eyes narrowed. "You a crazy mothafucker, Spiky. I don't know how chocobo-head deals with you. I'd kill ya."

Zack smiled. "Aw, didn't know you thought so highly of me, Barret. I'm honored, truly honored." He gave a mock-bow to the large man, who hmphed off to the rails, stomping his large boots against the ground.

Cloud shook as he got off the last step, wiping his brow. The moment he was stable, he rounded on Zack, his fist pummelling his jaw. "You stupid, crazy bastard! Don't do that again!"

"Or what?" Zack rubbed his injured mouth, running a hand over his honey skin. A bruise would be forming, turning the skin a sore bluish purple. "You gonna hit me again? Sorry Cloud, but that was a pretty weak-ass punch." It wasn't true, of course, because his skin felt like it was on fire, but he wasn't about to admit that to the blond.

"You want another," he seethed, pulling Zack by his SOLDIER uniform. "Don't ever do something like that again."

"You know, you're kinda cute when you're all pissed off like that," Zack laughed. The boy let go of him like he had been zapped and the raven-haired man held his hands up in a submissive gesture. "Alright, no harm done."

The boy gave him one last withering glare before walking off. Barret spat on the ground, his eyes narrowed at the others.

"If ya'll done, maybe we can get this operation done. Now here-" the man pulled out a small timer bomb, pushing it into Zack's hands, "now, yur gonna go place that on the center pole and we're gonna get the hell outta here. Set it for ten minutes."

Zack ran his calloused fingers over the small bomb. It fit into his hand like a small child, feeling almost as delicate too. If it was dropped it would no longer function and Jessie's hard work, their hard work, would have been useless. "I want a raise if you're going to have me do this," Zack said pointedly.

One of the man's bushy eyebrows rose. "Like hell! Now strap it on and let's get the hell outta here."

Zack did not fight, but shook his head for a moment, taking a few steps forward. "Whatever you want, bossman. Though, I will be telling Tifa about you being a cheap-ass."

This raised a reaction in the man. He stomped his foot on the ground and snarled, "Fine, an extra hundred. Now shut the fuck up an' put that thing up. I don' wanna hear anotha thing 'bout money 'til we get back to the bar."

Zack lifted two fingers to his brow, giving the man a mock-salute. "You got it, bossman."

* * *

The jagged gash across Zack's forehead bled freely, oozing crimson down his head and into his eyes, morbid drips splattering across the metal floor. The machine, if it could even be called that thanks to its heinous red body and enormous spiky tail, shot off several more bullets into the air, nearly hitting Cloud and Barret. The blond swore violently, wiping his brow.

"It won't die!" Cloud yelled over the sound of ricocheting lead. His hand faltered, dropping an inch. A bolt of electricity surged out, heading straight towards several blue and red circuits that stuck out from the machine. "I don't know how many more of these I can handle."

"Stick in there, chocobo-head!" Barret's voice was filled with tension; he was shooting sparingly now, the materia that supplied his bullets running low. "I ain't got too many left. We gotta kill this piece o' shit now!" His dark eyes drifted to the bomb, a few more rounds entering the metal monster. "We ain't got no time neither. Look!"

"Five minutes?" The color from the fight drained from his tan skin as Zack's eyes widened at the red flashing numbers. He stood still for a moment until a stray bullet whizzed by his ear and another crack of lightning hit the monster.

Barret's gun-arm straightened, precisely pointed at the monster's head. He took a deep breath, dark eyes following the red scorpion monster with vast interest as he calmly pushed a small red button on the center of his weapon. Zack and Cloud moved away instantly, already knowing what would happen and how unpleasant it would feel to get stuck between the monster and the black man. The last time he had let loose that particular bullet the entire Mako Reactor had shook violently, warming to an unpleasant degree.

"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit-" Zack's voice echoed through the reactor as Barret's gun went off, sending a vast stream of fire out, scattering shrapnel everywhere. "Get down!"

Cloud dove to the ground, katana clutched in his left hand, face white. His bright blue eyes were wide and his other hand was covering his head in hopes to keep any flying metal from embedding itself into his skull. His body went limp against the ground. Zack was next to him, the Buster Sword driven into the ground, preventing any of the major parts of the robot from flying into them.

"Well, that sure was close," Cloud said and took a deep breath, nearly choking.

Zack wiped his brow with the back of his hand, browning blood and dirt streaking across his face. "Eh, Cloud, you alright?" he asked, another small drip of blood trickling down his face, his brow furrowed in worry. He pushed out his hand to shake the boy. "Hey, you alright Cloud?" he said, lightly shaking his companion.

The blond's eyes opened a small fraction before snapping closed, pulling him subconsciously closer to the safety that Zack's Buster Sword provided. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little startled."

Zack gave a wisp of a smile, but Barret's heavy voice startled the two. "_Move! Move! Get yo' skinny asses outta here!_" His large boots clomped off in the direction of the ladder. Zack's eyes widened and he jumped up, grabbed hold of the hilt of his sword and ripped it from the ruined ground. His eyes ran back to the timer.

"Three minutes until detonation," Cloud whispered, dumbstruck. His mako blue eyes widened considerably as he pulled himself, stumbling, off the ground, avoiding the hissing metal. "Zack, three minutes until detonation." The horror shined in his eyes.

"Sheath your sword," Zack yelled, pushing his own back into his sheath. "Now, don't fight with me-" Zack gave the blond a glance before picking him up and throwing him around his shoulders. The teenager's head was right next to his and as Zack began to run, Cloud gave a foolish smile and said, "Well, this has been fun, hasn't it?"

The black-haired man's legs pounded against the ground, avoiding the dead bodies, some with new bullet wounds. The ladder was close. Zack jumped onto it, hands moving as quickly as they could. Cloud clung on; his eyes closed almost peacefully, though his fingernails dragging into Zack's skin answered louder than facial expressions. He smirked and said, "Yeah, it's been fun. Boy, I thought I'd have to drug you to get you to claw those nails against my back. Next time I'll just scare the shit out of you." His own fingers were wet and clammy with sweat.

Cloud dragged his fingers against Zack's back, painfully hard. "Less talking, more moving!" he yelled into the black-haired man's ear, voice ringing. Zack pulled himself over the last of the ladder, jumping over to the walkway.

They ran through the reactor, Zack cautiously avoiding the bodies after on lone hand reached out through a vast sea of blood, pulling at his leg. Bloody, the fingerprints were still on his pants leg, barely standing out to anyone else, but were a gruesome reminder of the blood spilled on the ground. The poor fools never had a chance.

The stench of mako was overpowering now. Zack wondered for a moment, as he and Cloud dove into a pipe, why he hadn't noticed it before. The reactor was creating too much - a very smart move on AVALANCHE's side, a bad move for the Power Company. How much longer would he have to suffer the smell of death before he was able to escape? How much longer before he could go home to his beautiful town, the forests filled with trees and plenty of hiding spots, the wheat fields a bit further out, small streams crisscrossing one another, the fish bursting out, seemingly waiting to be caught in the nets? There was only a mild scent of mako, even if the newest Reactor had been built in its center.

"You know, when we're done with this I'm taking you out to eat somewhere real expensive," Zack laughed, slamming his finger into the elevator button repeatedly, "How bout that, Cloud?"

Zack felt Cloud cringe.

_Come on, ding you sonofabitch,_ he thought, the smile never easing from his lips. The door chimed a few seconds later and Zack let out a joyous whoop. "I told ya we'd be fine!" Zack's laughter filled the blond's ears as the two went flying out of the enclosed space, down another hallway. Voices were up ahead and the sound of numbers being typed into a keyboard with fast keystrokes. As Zack turned a corner he nearly collided with Jessie, who was typing insanely into the keypad. Barret and Biggs stood nearby, pounding their fists into the unopened door.

"Shit!" Jessie banged her fist into the keypad, eyes watering. "Come on!"

"What's wrong?" Zack asked, his voice laced with panic. Cloud tightened his grasp on Zack's shoulder.

"It won't open," Jessie said, looking down at the numbers clutched in her hand, her fingers typing the combination back into the pad. A dull thud rose, but nothing else. She covered her face, trying to concentrate, "They must have locked us out. Barret! I don't know what to do!"

"Marlene," the black man mumbled, metal fist clinging into the steel. He did not answer the woman.

Zack's mind raced. "Did you type it in right?" His voice held a feverish pitch, bright violet eyes shining.

The woman gave a huff, throwing the paper to the ground. It floated down innocently, bright bold numbers vivid against the off-white paper. "Yes! I've tried everything, but nothing's working." She typed the numbers into the pad again.

Zack smacked his hand against his face, as to wake himself from a nightmare."Shit. Uh-uh... Fuck." He ran a hand through his hair, panicking. "Fuck! Override the damn thing or something!" Cloud's breath was ragged and his heart was thumping, sounding like the twin to his own. Blood pumped through his ears.

"How? There isn't an override code!"

"Yes, there is. Move!" Zack pushed past her, Cloud still hanging onto his body. Zack's fingers began touching the black keys. "Fucking AVALANCHE! You're terrorists, for Gaia's sake. Do more fucking research!" His fingers typed in the numbers '5745634' in fast succession, hitting the enter key afterwards. "Yes-!" he burst out as a faint ringing went through the air.

All four legs bolted out of the open door, down the hallway. Zack typed in the number again at the next door, the same result happening.

"Wedge, get your ass movin'!" Barret yelled across the bridge to the outside world. The fat man's stomach shook as he jumped up from his place on the floor at hearing his leader's voice.

"Bossman, you need to pay me more for this shit," Zack laughed out, running faster, passing the AVALANCHE members and finally arriving at the building which lead out of the reactor. The four others ran along behind the pair of ex-Shinra workers. The SOLDIER picked up more speed as he smelled freedom.

* * *

The bomb went off not fifteen seconds after the group barricaded themselves inside a safe house built of pure, solid steel. Near every Mako Reactor there was one for the SOLDIER's and guards, made specifically in case of a malfunction of some sort. Zack highly doubted that the idea of a bomb being able to get inside of one of Shinra's prided Mako Reactors had even graced the President's mind.

"That'll keep the planet alive a little longer," Jessie sighed, wiping her brow.

"Zack?" Cloud asked, turning to look at the raven-haired man.

The man crossed his arms across his chest, sighing wearily, "Yeah, kiddo? What's up?"

Cloud pulled his sword from his back, placing it on the ground near his feet, giving the teenager room to move around comfortably. "How did you know that code?"

Barret hmphed. "Yeah, Spiky. How'd ya know? There mus' be thousands of number combos, and you guess the right one on the first shot?"

Zack resisted snorting. "I was a SOLDIER. You did get that memo, right?" The members of AVALANCHE, save Jessie, rolled their eyes. Zackcontinued, "You don't expect a SOLDIER First-Class to know the override number? Uh, not to have a 'duh' moment, bossman, but, well uh, 'duh'."

Barret narrowed his dark eyes at Zack. "Jes' for your cheek I'm takin' that outta your paycheck."

Violet eyes opened considerably. "Hey, I just saved all your asses. I think I want a bit more, thank you. I mean, if she-" Zack pointed his thumb at Jessie who glared in response, "-had done the rest of her searching she would have found the code and I wouldnt've had to think so very, _very_ hard for the answer. So, pay up." Zack threw his hand out expectantly.

"You wait 'til we get back to the bar 'fore we start talkin' 'bout money." Barret kicked a nearby wooden box, sending it reeling into the nearby wall. It splintered.

The five sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, Jessie twiddling with a nearby computer, waiting for a time when they could properly escape.

"You _do _know that this is going to be one of the first places they check, right?" Zack had taken a dagger from the nearby table and was cleaning underneath his fingernails with the tip. "Boy, it sure does suck to get blood under your nails," he mumbled, scraping the brownish red residue from his index finger. He wasn't sure if it was his own or not. The gash on his head had stopped flowing and the drying blood was beginning to cake his eyes closed.

"Boy, we ain't stupid. Now, get yo' asses up an' move out. We meet on the train in fifteen." His eye twitched, "And if you ain't there you don't get no pay when we get back. Now!" a growl rose from his throat, "Move out!"

Cloud stood up, putting his sword away. "Come on, let's get out of here. I think I can already hear the sirens." The blond was right - blaring sirens of the Midgar Security Team, the ones who came before the firing squads and SOLDIERs, filled his ears.

* * *

She was shining against the dirty smoke and coughing men. The running boys who pushed her down had somehow missed her glowing face, too blinded by panic. Her flowers spilled across the dirty ground, several pairs of boots crushing some into the gravel, their petals bleeding into the sidewalk.

"Here." Zack pulled the woman up, watching her blush and dust her pink dress off. "You know, you really shouldn't be working tonight, especially since it's so late out."

Cloud knelt on the floor, picking up some of the flowers before they were crushed.

Aeris pursed her lips. "Zackary Fair, I can protect myself. I've got-"

"-a wooden stick that you like to call a rod and it isn't even here, Aeris. You know how I feel about you runnin' around in the middle of the night selling flowers in the freaking slums. You have any idea how many loonies are running around at night?"

Her long braid of hair whipped forward, nearly knocking him out. "Zack, I can take care of myself. You were one of those strangers, once."

Cloud stood, placing the flowers delicately into the basket. She gave him a warm smile and he looked down at the ground, his foot kicking into the ruined flowers. "Oh, thank you, Cloud. You didn't have to do that."

"God, toots, you make poor Cloud blush like crazy," Zack smirked, making baby faces at the blond. "Aw, is wittle Cloudy-woudy blushy-wushing 'cos of Aeris?" Zack pulled at his face as though it was elastic.

Cloud shrugged away from the exploring, grabbing fingers, his cheeks aflame.

"Oh, sweetheart, ignore him. It's the only way you're going to survive without your face turning into a radish. Here-" Aeris pulled a flower, a white lily and handed it to Cloud. He accepted it with gentle hands, not to break the flower's innocence. "You keep that safe, please. It's rather hard to get pure white lilies to bloom. I can make things grow, but not them. Not very often, anyway." Aeris's green eyes warmed.

Zack looked at his watch, noting it was 12:16. Barely six minutes left to get to the train station. "Well, I hate to do this, but me and blondie have to run. Barret said he wouldn't pay us if we weren't on the next train and I don't know 'bout you but I don't want all of our hard work to go to waste." He pulled the brunette close and placed a small kiss on her lips.

They pulled apart a second later. "Something," Aeris started, "something about you has changed, Zack. I'll see you tomorrow, as soon as you get back home." She gave one last smile before walking off, the wicker basket swinging in her hand.

* * *

"You're lucky you got here," Biggs whispered quickly, looking around to make sure his leader was nowhere close by. "We got attacked by a bunch of Shinra guards. I thought Barret would kill you if you didn't get here soon." The man winced when he heard Barret begin to curse out again.

"Bastards ain't gonna fuck with me!" Bullets erupted from his gun, aimed at the brick wall.

"Who gave him more bullet materia?" Cloud asked, his feet cracking a few pieces of glass against the floor.

Biggs shook his shoulders. "I don't know, and really all I care about is avoiding him like the plague. He'll kick my ass or put another bullet in my ass, and that really isn't too fun."

Zack's attempt at stifling his snicker failed. "It could have been worse."

"Eh? How could it have gotten worse? You have any idea how unpleasant it is to get a bullet removed from your ass with a pair of tweezers?" Biggs turned and looked at Cloud to explain. "AVALANCHE can't get treated in Shinra-run hospitals. You know, terrorist and all," he rolled his eyes, scratching at his ear, "so I got stuck having Tifa pull it out with a set of tweezers. Damn, I thought I would've given anything to have Tifa's head between my legs..."

"Get the fuck on dat train!" Barret shouted over the hissing of the mako engine. He stomped on, slamming into several men exiting the train.

"Zack, I don't think I want a bullet in my ass."

**Please Review!**


	4. Let's Talk

**Edited 1/5/2012**

* * *

Chapter Three: Let's Talk

"Rendezvous at the hideout in ten minutes," Barret bellowed as the six disembarked the train at the last stop, the closest place to Sector Seven. The temperature had dropped ten degrees, one of the few signs of the approaching winter that the people of the slums could feel. It didn't rain; what they got was murky water, the runoff from on the top of the plate which would be swept down through the broken drain pipes to leak out onto their heads.

The black man clapped his normal hand and gun arm together and began running off in the direction of the bar. The other three followed, avoiding the crowd of people leaving the rest of the train. The mako steam rolled off the metal vehicle, the people walking through it seeming not to notice or care. They were regulars, common people who dealt with mako daily.

Zack stepped down the concrete stairs, avoiding the people in the station as best as he could. Cloud was behind him, following the outrageous hair to keep himself from getting lost. It was almost a comical sight, a man with spiky black hair and a teenager with blond spiky hair, perfectly contrasting one another. The taller, more muscular man could be said to be slightly frightening with his large sword strapped to his back, the hilt poking over the top of his black mane, while the blond was short and slightly scrawny, his own weapon less intimidating than that of his partner.

"We must be quite a sight," Zack mused, running a hand through his hair, a grin on his lips.

The blond laughed. "Yeah, we must be. I mean, there has to be a reason why everyone is staring at you and me like we're going to kill them. The Buster Sword isn't helping either."

Zack nodded before glancing through the crowd, noticing none of the AVALANCHE members around. "I think we'd better go. I wanna get paid, eat, take a shower, get laid and go to sleep. Maybe even get drunk if we have the time."

Cloud rolled his eyes.

Zack's grin widened, "Alright then, getting laid sounds a little far-fetched, but I still want to do the rest. Y'know what?" he stopped, giving Cloud a suggestive look, "Maybe I _can_ get laid. What do you say?"

A hard punch to the side wiped the new-found smirk from the older man's face, his violet eyes widening. Cloud pulled back, a stomp in his step. "You go get laid in a brothel and we'll see Aeris wipe the ground with your head. And don't even _think_ of asking her. Go jack off in the shower like everyone else."

"Aw, you jack off in the shower, Cloud?" Zack questioned, his long legs catching up to the blond after a moment of hard running.

"Do you want me to hit you again, Zackary?" Cloud skidded to a halt as he came closer to Sector Seven's entrance. "You're ridiculously lewd, I thought it beneath you. Your audacity is astounding." His pale cheeks were tinged with pink, his lips pouting.

"Audacity? Zackary? Damn, she's turning you into a little virgin boy, Cloud." Zack reached out to pat Cloud's head. "Come on, you need to get laid before you start praying in the church and planting flowers and shit."

"Well," Cloud stepped out, away from Zack's hands, "it didn't look like she was all that virginal a few nights ago when she snuck into your bed."

Zack's hand dropped. Eventually, he recovered his voice. "Uh, shit. Well." He stumbled over his words. The next question was hesitant, "I don't have to, you know, explain the birds and the bees, right?" He let out a roar, laughing as hard as he could.

Cloud spat on the ground. "No," he grumbled, voice dripping acid, "I don't want or need you, of all people, to explain how sex works. Gaia." He kicked a nearby garbage can, its contents spewing across the floor. "Besides, it doesn't sound like you'll be getting into anyone's pants for a while."

"Okay, don't get so angry. I was just messing with you. Plus," a minute smirk crossed his face, "I wasn't talking about going to a brothel. Damn, you have any idea how gross that is? I am _not_ putting my junk near one of those girls."

A disgusted look crossed the blond's face. "So how were you planning to get laid then?"

Zack noticed the boy's face lose all its color rapidly. "Well, Cloud, how do you _think_ I was going to do it? Definitely not alone in a shower." Zack leered as he stepped forward, puckering his lips.

* * *

"I think his nose is broken." Tifa lifted the napkin from Zack's bleeding nose. He swore as her calloused fingers brushed against the bridge. "No, shattered is more like it."

"Shit! That hurts." Zack jerked his head away from her hand.

She glared at him like a mother would a child before grasping his chin firmly with her other hand. She went back to poking,, her wine-colored eyes regarding the injury curiously. "And you're saying you fell?" She took her hands away, tutting. "I've been fighting with my hands for years now. Cloud, why did you punch him?"

Zack felt his face grow hot.

Tifa raised an eyebrow, looking affronted. "Oh, please; it wasn't hard to figure out. First of all, if you'd fallen your nose wouldn't have bruised quite as bad and it would have been a clean break. Now _that_-" she pointed to his poor nose, "sure as Gaia isn't from a fall."

The raven-haired man glared at Cloud, who was sitting patiently on a nearby bar stool, sipping at his drink. He stirred the liquid in his glass around for a moment, the dark red drink churning with the ice. "Oh, dear Tifa," he glanced up, innocently, "why would _I _punch _him_? I'm kind of insulted that you would believe something like that. The moron walked into a pole." He took another sip from his drink.

Tifa began to nod, but caught herself. "Whoa, whoa, wait- he said that he fell. You said that he walked into a pole." She put her hands on her hips, assessing the situation. "_I_ say that you got punched." Napkins went flying over to the violet-eyed man, who snatched them gratefully out of the air, gently placing them to his nose. He gave a hiss.

Zack flipped his empty hand out, annoyed. "Fine, believe whatever you want, but just fix it already. It hurts and it's still bleeding, in case you haven't noticed." His voice was muffled but still rang with sarcasm.

The woman went behind the bar, her shoulders shaking from laughter. "I can't unless you want your nose to look like a train crashed into it. You need a good healer to fix it." She wiped her fingers on a washrag, cleaning the blood from her fingers.

Zack's eyes widened. "You're kidding me, right?" His voice came slightly slurred. Another blob of drying blood dripped down his throat.

"'Fraid so, Zack."

"Tifa, could you give me something harder," Cloud asked, tapping his glass against the counter.

She shook her head. "I don't think so, Cloud. You look like you're about as smashed as you can get." She took the glass away.

Cloud gave her a look. "I'm not drunk and I'm not slurring, so why don't you give me something a little stronger. It isn't like we're going to be leaving here anytime soon." A bright green bottle was the one he pointed to as he added, "Can you pour me some of that?"

Tifa looked at him wearily, but it was Zack who answered, "That stuff is absinthe, Cloud. Even I wouldn't touch it. I've heard of some of the other First-Class SOLDIERs talk about that shit." He lifted the napkin from his face and asked Tifa for another. "Nasty stuff. Fucks with your brain."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about me, I've drank it before." He gave Tifa a short smile, eyes moving to the bottle and back again. "You should have a little more faith in me."

Reluctantly, Tifa poured him a shot. "You're twenty one. I can't stop you even if I wanted to," she shrugged.

Confused, Cloud looked at the woman. She had turned around to begin cleaning blood from the table.

"Do you know any healers?" Zack asked politely.

Tifa rolled her eyes but nodded. "Of course I do. No terrorist organization could survive without one. I get stuck doing the stuff that she can't. I'll give her a call."

* * *

"Let's talk money," Zack said, sitting down in the wooden chair, putting his feet on the nearby table. "When are you gonna pay me and Cloud for our services?" Feet banged to the ground, punctuating the question.

"I ain't gunna pay you shit til ya do somethin' for me." Barret punched the bag brutally, nearly causing it to fly off its hook. "Was there some reason you came to AVALANCHE, or was it jus' cuz of the money?"

"Look," Zack leaned into the table, which started creaking under his weight, "I couldn't give two shits about you trying to save the planet, killing loads of people as you do it. All I care about is gettin' paid. I'm a mercenary. I don't get attached to the jobs. If that was what you were looking for…" The creaking subsided for a moment as his feet returned to the table, "Well, then you hired the wrong guys," he finished.

Barret nodded once, scratching at his beard in an almost thoughtful gesture. "Where is that chocobo-head anyway?" He looked around for a moment, dark eyes searching for the tuft of bright sunshine yellow.

"Getting wasted upstairs. Tifa told him not to keep drinking, but she keeps pouring. I think Cloud's gotten addicted to absinthe."

Barret laughed raucously. "She's gunna have one helluva drunk on 'er hands," he chuckled, punching the bag again for good measure. "So, was there any SOLDIER's today?"

"Nah. If there was, we wouldn't be standing here, bossman." Zack kicked his shoes off into a corner, stretching his feet. "SOLDIERs aren't weak, and we would've stood no chance against them. Especially you guys," he gestured towards a photo nearby, one that displayed AVALANCHE's members. Looking through the glass frame, Jessie had a small frown marring her face, her fingers seemingly typing as fast as they could move, a trace of her tongue sticking from her mouth. Next to her were Biggs and Wedge, both looking on at a raunchy magazine opened to a spreadsheet with the words "MISS MIDGAR - SEX-TOY FOR THE BIG BOYS" splashed across the top in bold lettering. The larger of the two had a burger clutched in his hand; the other was drooling, though clearly not because of the scent of food. The little child, Marlene, sat on her father's bulbous shoulders in a pretty orange sun-dress, her hair much longer than it was now. Lastly, the robust bartender stood nearby, her eyes glancing at Marlene and Barret. Various other faces, a few distorted because of the quality, stood obscured in the background.

"They take care of themselves jus' fine," Barret ground out without a moment's hesitation.

"Jessie didn't seem so competent earlier. You know, with her panicking as the seconds ticked by. We would've died if I hadn't known the code."

"We all got those momen's. Don' try an' say she ain't no good 'cuz she got scared. You must've got scared sometime when you was some big, bad SOLDIER. No one's perfect."

"Well, sorry to break your bubble, but no, SOLDIER's don't panic. We thrive, we bitch, we survive. Nothing else." Zack stood up, chair scraping against the linoleum floor.

* * *

The room was sparsely lit, the glow of the television and computer screen only aided by the solitary sixty watt bulb above. It left a ghostly impression on the walls, one of bodies barely moving, yet gliding, almost ethereal. Night was one of the most beautiful of times, Zack mused, his glowing eyes focused on the bodies surrounding him. Too late to walk home, too early to catch a train, Zack and Cloud had decided to spend the night with the members of AVALANCHE, sleeping in the main room. Their blankets were entwined with one another, legs and fingers and hair clinging together in the heat caused by the mass breathing. Sweat and drool glistening on the bed sheets, it would have looked to a passer-by that a massive orgy had taken place below the bar.

Zack stared at the various small groups of people. Tifa lay next to Marlene and Barret, the small girl with her fingers entwined in the woman's long brown locks. Jessie had managed to kick both Biggs and Wedge away from her, her arms and legs outstretched. Biggs had taken to sleeping on the floor not too long ago, mumbling a 'hogging bitch' under his breath. The larger Wedge was sucking on his thumb, his head at Barret's feet.

The two ex-Shinra workers were sprawled near each other off to the corner of the room. Zack had leaned up against the wall. Cloud was curled in a small ball beside him.

"Zack?" Cloud slurred, groggily opening one eye. The ball disintegrated and the blond's head slumped against the wall.

Zack rolled his eyes. Warning or no, the boy had gotten completely and totally wasted. He was so far gone it wouldn't have surprised Zack if he was hallucinating. "Yeah, kiddo? Are you seeing some famous singer dancing on your nose yet?"

The boy made a vague, ill sound.

"You aren't gonna to puke on me, right?"

The blond didn't answer immediately. When he did though, it wasn't what the black-haired man had expected. "When talkin' I confused. Tifa sayin' sumthin'."

"Huh? You're speaking drunk, Cloud." Zack made a face, looking down at the boy. Large glowing blue eyes stared up.

Cloud continued to speak as if he had not heard what the older man had said. "She said I'm twen'y-one. 's'not true. 'm sixteen." He stabbed his chest with his thumb. "'m not twen'y-one."

Zack closed his eyes, a sigh escaping from his chapped lips. "Kiddo, uh, she was right. You _are_ twenty one. C'mere-" he pulled the boy (though technically a man) up, leaning his head against his chest.

"Wha'?" He pushed his ear to Zack's chest, listening to his heartbeat, his eyes drifting shut.

Zack watched the boy slip into sleep, leaving the question unanswered. He was so peaceful when asleep - he looked younger and even more innocent with his eyes closed, hiding the confusion or anger that usually filled them. Bright hair stuck out in several directions, causing the black-haired man to smile.

"I won't tell you until you're ready," Zack said as he rested his head against the blond's. "I won't tell you until I'm ready." He hummed a soothing tune from home, reminding him of fields and forests.

"When I get home, you and me are gonna eat as much as we can fit in our mouths. I'll show you the tree-house I built all on my own. My collections of butterflies and marbles, too. I'll show you the secret hiding place for my first dirty magazine and knives. My ma will like you, like yours liked me. The fire poles are always fun to climb-" Zack yawned tiredly, snuggling closer to sunshine blond hair, falling into a slumber he had not had since his childhood.

* * *

Zack spat. "You're fucking joking me, right?" He threw a glare at the table, a small envelope in front of him, a few crumpled gil inside. "Fifteen hundred gil for saving your asses? And what about Cloud? Five hundred? Puh-lease. I can make more delivering pizzas." Zack picked up his Buster Sword, strapping it to his back. "I'm not going to do another assignment for less than three thousand. Come on, Cloud," his head jerked to the door, "let's go home. I'm not going to deal with this and neither are you."

Cloud dropped his fork, picking up the envelope with his name on it.

"Wait!" Tifa yelled, begging Zack to stop with her eyes. "Please, don't leave." She glanced over to Barret, giving him a meaningful look. "We'll give you two thousand for the next assignment." She gave a quick smile, attempting to reassure the two.

Zack snorted. "You gave Cloud a thousand less. Why?" he asked, looking at Barret.

The big man pounded his fist into the table. "Cuz he didn't do jack shit!" Barret threw his fork across the bar. It clanged heavily into one of the bottles.

"Bullshit! He did almost as much as me!" Zack pulled his Buster Sword out, pointing it at the leader of AVALANCHE.

Cloud jumped up, putting himself between the ex-SOLDER and the terrorist. "Put it away, Zack," Cloud said, his eyes staring dangerously at his friend. "No violence," the blond chanted.

The weapon's tip met the wood floor unceremoniously.

"Heh, 'No violence' pretty much explains why he ain't getting' paid as much as you. Didn't kill not one of those Shinra scum. Not one."

Zack's eyes narrowed. "He doesn't want to shed human blood. Is that such a big fuckin' crime?"

The black man nodded his head. "He ain't cut for it. You lucky I even gave him dat."

"Well then, I see how it is." Zack sheathed his sword and grabbed Cloud by the arm. "Let's get the fuck out of dodge. Just remember," Zack sneered at the black man, "that I still haven't given you the override code. Grab your sword," he told Cloud, ready to leave.

Tifa stomped her steel-toed boot on the ground. "Two thousand each!" she yelled over the men, avoiding several glares.

"That's for Marlene's schoolin'!"

Tifa gave a pleading look. "I'll pay for it myself, then." She looked at the two mercenaries. "Come on, what do ya say? Is that good enough?"

Cloud bit his lip, looking up at Zack, who gave a terse nod. "Yeah, that'll work," was his response.

Cloud closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath.

The woman sighed, relieved. "Oh good. Now, finish your breakfast and get prepared. I'll be coming with you this time." She smiled at the group before walking out from behind the bar, pulling her black apron off as she went. "Barret, I'm going to call Lona to come take care of the shop and Marlene. Is that alright?"

"I don' want you there," Barret said seriously. "Explosions aren't meant for-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Barret Wallace. I'm no child and you can't even use the excuse that I'm a woman since you let Jessie come along." She pulled a pair of leather finger-less gloves from a box, shoving them on her hands.

"She a bomb person though," he responded almost automatically.

Zack took this moment to pipe in. "Quit lying, Barret." Tifa grabbed him by the throat, a sinister look gracing her otherwise pleasant features.

"Would you like me to break your nose again, especially after we had that woman come over here last night and fix it?"

The raven-haired man gave a sweet smile. "Of course I don't, deary." He sat down on a stool next to Cloud and stole a chocobo patty. As he tossed it in his mouth, he mumbled a quick, "Miss cranky-pants," that no one but Cloud heard.

"Are you alright, Cloud?" Tifa walked up behind him, patting the choking blond on the back, trying to free his lungs.

"Aw, chocobo-head'll be fine," Zack smirked, winking at Cloud.

* * *

Train tracks led the train, a compartment full of terrorists, towards the center of Sector Five where their next mission was to take place. The compartment was all but silent, save the quick breaths.

"This is horse shit," Jessie said, breaking the silence. Her eyes were drawn to the model of Midgar. Everyone in the car looked at her, their confusion evident. Jessie sighed. "Looks like they added even more checkpoints after last night. Can't really blame them. If it was me I'd be pretty much doing the same thing." She pulled out several ID's, throwing them to each of the AVALANCHE members. "These," she looked down at her own card, "are the best I could whip up."

Zack stared down at his ID, eyes narrowing as he read the words. "There is no way someone would believe this," he laughed.

Barret looked over at his, which was laying front up near his seat, and nodded his head. "Shit. Mista fuckin' Langston? You make me sound like some prissy ass white boy." Barret threw the card back at the woman, who caught it deftly between her thumb and forefinger.

"You can just make them yourself next time," she huffed, folding her arms across her stomach. "Anyway, that one wasn't for you, if you bothered to look at the picture. It's hard enough to create whole new identities and sometimes the names slightly suck. Here Zack." Jessie threw it to Zack. He caught it and tossed the other one, with the picture of Barret, back to her.

"Much better," he praised, violet eyes scanning the information and picture. His own face smiled back up at him, an old picture from when he had joined Shinra. There, his face was clear of the scar and eyes less mako-bright. "Hey? How did you get that picture?"

The woman looked out the window. "Stole them from a file I found on the Shinra Database. It wasn't easy to dig up," she shook her head at Barret, "and _his_ was even harder. I had to wait three hours to snap the stupid thing. Should've just called Lona to come take it."

Cloud looked up at the woman. "Lona? She's the girl who fixed Zack's nose." He nodded, answering his own question. "How is she involved with AVALANCHE? She didn't look like any of… well, us." The sentence came out sounding rather lame.

Jessie gave a small knee jerk response, "She's my sister. Used to work for Shinra Medical, but they would have killed her if they knew about me. Anyway, they tried to transfer her out of Midgar to someplace far away and she didn't want that. Quit the next day." Jessie tugged at her bandanna nervously. "She's actually the reason I was able to hack into a lot of the files. Gave me some of the codes and everything."

Zack looked at her questioningly. Since when did Shinra Medical get to go through his paperwork? Maybe there was a breech in the security on their server.

"Good kid, gettin' outta there 'for Shinra scum sucked her dry too!" Barret hollered, making Biggs, who had been asleep, jump up in a panic.

"Gaia, be a little quiet," Biggs murmured under his breath. The only people able to hear were Tifa and Zack, who both laughed a little.

"Wha' you laughin' at, Spiky?" Barret said, looking over to Zack.

Zack put his hand on his head and shrugged. "Why do you call me 'spiky' and Cloud 'chocobo-head'? I mean, seriously, bossman, we've got names." Zack looked around the compartment, watching the scenery outside blur past, the city a barely beating pulse of life with colors darkening.

"You got spiky hair and chocobo-head's got chocobo hair. Makes it damn obvious, if you're askin' me." Barret leaned back, resting his head against the glass. The mako light from the reactor above shone brightly, creating a pallid stream of colors.

"Well-" just as Tifa slapped her gloved hands to her knees, an alarm raced through the entire train, the blaring red colors from the emergency lights flashing from corner to corner. The lights flickered off for a moment and the people in the next car screeched.

"Shit!" Zack yelled, jumping up from his seat, his black hair whipping around. "Get the fuck off the train!"

The others abruptly stood from their seats, pulling out weapons.

Jessie gasped. "No, no, no…!" she whispered, mortified. Her bright eyes stared out vacantly towards the beeping light, the words _'Intruders Alert. Suspicious characters found. Lockdown in one minute,'_ filling everyone's ears.

"No use sitting there! Come on, we don't wanna be caught!" Zack screamed through the commotion, pushing Cloud into the next compartment. The blond would have stayed rooted to the floor if not for Zack, who needed more than anything at that very moment for the boy to get his ass moving. "Come on!" Zack grasped him by the shoulders, shaking the boy, making the dazed expression flee Cloud's face.

Cold fire erupted from below blond lashes, and the older man resisted the urge to shiver.

* * *

"Let's just jump from moving trains!" Cloud berated Zack, his voice harsh and cold as winter in the slums. "Is there a brain up there, or did you have it addled when you were a puppy, Fair?" Cloud kicked a bottle with his steel-toed boots, sending it flying.

Zack held his arms out, looking forward. "Blame Barret. I wasn't too hot on the idea of taking a leap of faith either. You'll have to wait until I can actually _find_ them first." It had been fourty minutes since their escape and the two ex-Shinra workers had yet to even glimpse the members of AVALANCHE. At one time Zack had sworn he heard their voices just up ahead, but even as they ran to meet them they were nowhere in sight. His ears playing tricks on him, he assured himself.

Desperation started to set in once fifteen minutes passed. By thirty, the blame game began.

"And quit calling me Fair. It makes you sound like a dickish SOLDIER I used to know. Doesn't suit you at all." Zack dodged the oncoming kick with ease. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his SOLDIER uniform, absently feeling for the wallet that had been stolen on the train as the group escaped.

Cloud looked over then back down at the ground, staring at the train tracks. "You're lucky he gave that back."

The raven-haired man snorted. "Shit, Cloud, I thought you knew me better than that. Of course I knew the sleaze had grabbed it. You get used to getting robbed blind on the train. Assholes pick the worst targets." He closed his eyes, remembering vividly one specific occasion. The man walked on, eyes closed for a while. Cloud contented himself with counting the water puddles.

"Sixty-three," Zack heard Cloud mumble under his breath

_A ghost of a man flew inside of Zack's mind, a smirk on his face and a sword clenched in his pale hand. The sickly veins popped from his hand, giving a bluish tinge to his appearance. A hoodlum dressed in a sweatshirt, his pocketful of stolen goods hanging in the air, had a look of pure, unadulterated fear spread to the corners of his face. _

"Sixty-four…"

"_I believe that is mine." _

_Pale lips turned up as he reached his hand inside of the man's jacket, clutching at the stolen wallet. The veined hand brought the hoodlum's face closer. Zack could see small spittle fly from his commanding officer's mouth onto the shaking moron. "Now," his voice dropped an octave, "are you going to be stealing any further merchandise this night?" _

"Sixty-five…"

"_How the hell did you do that?" Zack asked, amazed. The other man's eyebrows had been drawn close in concentration, his hand flipping through the wallet, memorizing the contents. Bright mako eyes looked up, regarding the raven-haired man with cool interest. _

"Sixty-six…"

"_Fair, don't be so shocked. It makes you look stupid. The man had dipped his hand into my pocket, retrieving this-" a black wallet was held before Zack's nose. He stared at it, making his eyes go crisscrossed. "-And I made sure to get it back." A sinister smirk crossed the man's face. _

_Violet eyes opened a fraction. _

_"And either way, I doubt Sephiroth or Angeal wouldn't have done the same."  
_

"Sixty-six," Cloud mumbled, bored.

"You already said that one, chocobo-head." Zack pulled a hand out of his pocket, petting the blond's unruly hair. Cloud jerked in response, the same reaction elicited every time the man did so. "What? You don't like me petting you?" Zack laughed, waving the offending hand in front of the blond.

"No, for your information, I don't. I'm not a dog, you know," the younger man grumbled out, touching his own locks with his hand.

"Well, you know that you'll always be my pet," Zack said, clutching his chest where his heart resided.

* * *

Tifa's voice rose through the railway - "Barret, it's them!" - and both Cloud and Zack, running forward, snapped their heads up to look at her. The brunette grabbed hold of the two in a fierce hug.

"Oh," Tifa exclaimed, joyous, "we were worried you guys had gotten crushed when you jumped out. It was a stupid idea." She let go of the two, taking a deep breath to compose herself. "Anyway, we're glad you got here in time. We waited for as long as we could. Since you're both here now we can get a move on." She straightened out her skirt and looked over at Barret, who took a moment to glare at the two before him, snapping the safety off his gun arm.

"The guys're already in there." Barret jerked his black-stubbled chin to a small, extremely uncomfortable looking hatch. "We gotta follow, set the bomb and get the fuck out. Tifa..." His dark eyes stared at the woman, who was defiantly pulling on her gloves, her fingers moving restlessly. He gave her a reproachful look, "I don'-"

"Barret Wallace, I told you once to stop," she growled, eyes narrowing.

"Righ'," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Tifa turned her back to the group. She began sliding her body into the hatch, though her well endowed chest made the task a little difficult.

"Women are weird," Cloud said.

With a laugh, Zack nodded his head in agreement. "Women. They're the most popular monsters on this planet. Sad to say that they're _all_ kinda like that." He looked out into nothingness, a short smile on his face.

"You got a woman?"

"Yeah, she's one of a kind, though still kinda acts like that," he indicated Tifa. The raven-haired man looked over his shoulder towards Cloud, whose hand rested on the hilt of his katana. "You ready to slide?"

The blond shook his head. "Ugh, the very idea is making me woozy," he admitted, lowering his hand, subconsciously rubbing a circle against his stomach, trying to sooth himself.

Zack walked towards the hole Tifa had disappeared through and peered down. "Well, it's a short drop at least," he said stiffly, moving out of Barret's way. The bulky man shot off a word of thanks before shoving himself into the small space, his arms crashing into the sides of the thin sheet metal, bending a few of the places out of shape. The tight squeeze made Cloud appear ready to pass out.

"Come on, it isn't too bad." Zack patted his friend's head comfortingly, trying to make light of the situation. The blond took a deep, shaky breath, his throat rattling. "You could've had some reasonable fear, like being afraid of guns or something, and all you're scared of is that silly hatch? Could be a ton worse, you know. Now get!" his tone gentle, Zack patted Cloud on the back once more.

Reassured, Cloud climbed into the hatch, taking one last deep breath before plummeting down. Zack watched Cloud's descent, then glanced at his sore hand. It was marked where the boy's fingers had latched onto him, pale crescent moons indented into the skin. "You're lucky I like you Cloud, 'cos otherwise I would've smacked you," he joked to himself as he climbed into the hatch, his hand held over his heart.

* * *

"It's quiet."

The reactor was silent except for the group's scuffling. Their feet smacked on the tile floor, sounds reverberating from wall to wall.

"Too quie'," Barret added, his eyes tracing the inside of the reactor. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Zack rolled his eyes at the cliché.

"It isn't supposed to be like this," Cloud added, pulling his katana from its sheath, holding it before him, prepared for the hidden, silent enemy.

Jessie pulled a page out from her pocket and stared at it, hoping an answer would sprout miraculously from the black inked words. "Cloud's right. There are supposed to be sixteen guards around in this part alone, and it's been really quiet since we got here. Something's up."

The rest of the team agreed readily.

"Well, we ain't got no otha' shot at this. We stick to the plan an' blow this mothafucka' outta the water. Now! Move out!" Barret fired a few rounds into a nearby set of crates, upside down with their pointed arrows stating '**This Way Up**' pointing towards the ground. Tinkering glass sounded through the quiet reactor and green liquid, putrid and decaying spilled from the holes in the boxes.

"That reeks," Tifa gagged into her gloved hand. Zack and Cloud wrinkled their noses in distaste; the smell of pure, unadulterated mako was even worse than the pollution which clung to the city.

"Pure mako," Zack said, shivering in memory, "To get into SOLDIER the candidates are pumped with that. Side effects of it weren't all too pleasant either."

Cloud, who stood next to him, began to involuntarily scratch at the vein in his left arm. Zack's own fingers itched in remembrance, but resisted the urge to likewise attack his arm.

Barret walked closer to the box then delivered a kick to it. The box smashed into the wall with almighty force, shattering to minuscule pieces. More glass and green, bubbling liquid sprayed the metal.

"It's the Planet's lifeblood." Barret knelt down, his fingers lightly touching the green liquid.

"Don't!" Zack yelled, running forward to grab the large man's shoulders. He reeled back when he was pushed away, wiping his mako-stained fingers on his pants.

"Why not?" Barret roared, standing up, his eyes piercing into Zack's violet, mako-induced glowing eyes.

The ex-SOLDIER looked between the green liquid littering the floor and the black man before him. "It's fucking poisonous to normal humans, especially if it gets into open wounds. The only reason why SOLDIER's are able to handle that shit," he pointed to the deadly puddles, which had begun to sizzle through the floor, "is because we started getting transfusions from the beginning, of diluted mako. You see what it does?"

"That ain't right," Barret muttered, staring at the pools in fascination, "they makin' killin' machines with that shit runnin' through their veins."

"Zack, we should go." Cloud shook the raven-haired man's shoulder, pulling him away from the sight of the mako burning holes into the surface. He had a small, pained look on his face, his eyes darting nervously from the puddle to the door. Thick, rope-like scratches circled the veins on his arm.

Tifa nodded her head kindly toward the center of the Reactor, "Yes, we need to set the bomb. Barret, come on. We still have a lot of work and that's not counting whatever Shinra's got up their sleeves."

* * *

The bomb was set in place without a hitch, something which calmed the nerves of all those present. No exploding red scorpion monsters, no stuck bomb, no jammed door. It was a beautiful thing where no fear was shown and the remote detonator was in Jessie's hands, ready to be pushed.

"Let's go," Zack said as he wiped his face with the back of his hand. The three people next to him nodded. They walked away from the bomb and danger, moving at a quick, constant pace. The Mako Reactor was as silent as it had been from their entrance. It seemed nothing had been discovered yet.

So, when the monster began its attack upon the four, each was surprised for that one critical moment.

"What the hell!" Cloud yelled, ripping his katana from its sheath. "What is it?"

"It's my new toy," a voice boomed from the side. Turning to the sound, Zack took in the sight of the speaker, a man in a red suit who stood smirking, hands clasped firmly before him. "I thought you would all rather enjoy the company. When the train security informed me two of the Professor's _favorite_ people were with that terrorist riff-raff, I was sure to guarantee a different ending for all the funding Shinra put in." The man thoughtfully placed one pudgy hand on his face, concentrating.

"If it ain't the scum o' the Planet himself!" Barret roared, pointing his gun-arm at the Shinra President.

"Ah, you're that terrorist organization, correct? Volcano or Earthquake, perhaps? Ah, no matter-"

"AVALANCHE! And don' you forget it! We're gonna wipe your dirty ass face 'gainst the floor!" Barret attempted to jump forward but the robot moved swiftly to intercept, preventing the leader from getting any closer.

The President smirked. "It's been programmed to kill anything but you two-" he sent a sinister smile at Cloud and Zack, making the blond back away towards to railing. "You will be going back where you belong. Now, I have a rather important business dinner to attend so I leave you with a goodbye. I hope the information Air Buster extracts from your dead corpses will be sufficient enough for a few tests." He sent a particularly nasty look towards Zack and Cloud, adding, "I would hate having to collect other samples."

The President turned and boarded his waiting helicopter. Zack stared in horror, his eyes and Cloud's both unable to grasp the President's words.

"Zack, what's going on?" Cloud asked, his voice barely audible over the sound of whirring fans and the monster's beeping.

* * *

After fifteen minutes of brutal fighting, with blood covering the floor and potion bottles scattered the mechanical beast launched its final attack. Zack shoved his Buster Sword deep within the electrical insides, trying to stop it. Pushed beyond its limits, the monster shuddered and exploded. With a loud _boom!_, a large hole appeared in the bottom of the walkway.

Zack was unable to retract his sword in time. Unceremoniously, he was thrown into the pit, his sword in one hand, the other grasping nimbly at the swiftly-heating metal.

"Dammit! Get the hell out of here!" Zack struggled, sweaty fingers unable to find a purchase on the ledge.

Cloud grasped for his hand but they were too far away. "No!" he yelled, sliding onto his stomach, hand outreached, straining. "You can grab on. Don't do this!" His voice was escalated with panic, "Don't go, please, don't go! Zack!"

Barret grabbed the blond's shoulders, looking down at the dangling man.

Zack gave a small smirk, fingers losing their grip. "Hey, I ain't about to die. You owe me two thousand gil. Just get outta here already! I'll be fine."

Cloud reached out a last time, yelling "Don't you dare!"

As his hand slipped a little further, Zack nodded shakily. He looked up as he fell, and his violet eyes met Cloud's bright mako blue eyes in promise.

He would never break a promise to Cloud. Never.

* * *

**Please Review!**


	5. Second Time

**Edited 1/5/2012**

* * *

Chapter Four: Second Time

'**Do you remember?'**_ a voice whispered into Zack's ear._

_Hojo stood over his body; the purple and blue bruises adorned his throat like a queen would wear her jewels, choking with pride, head held high. There was no pain, none since the drugs had taken effect. The greasy-haired man above him was holding out a bloody scalpel._

"_It wouldn't be useful for you to die on my table, Specimen 'Z'. Your value still multiplies by the day, especially if your test results show a change in cellular structure." Hojo placed the scalpel down, a tight sneer spread across his ghoulish, monstrous face. Each syllable was announced with precise care, not too different from the lines gracing Zack's body: insertion points for tubes, sticks of solidified 'S' and 'A' cells, shards of materia, and whatever else graced the monster's mind._

"_You are quite the lucky boy, I promise you that. Lucky that you serve a purpose, unlike the failed experiment 'C'. __**He**__ will be tested without the special medication you are receiving. A mouse, while you are the dog." The sound of shattering glass erupted behind him, and his greasy ponytail whipped across as his head jerked to the side. "Be gentle, you moron! Those are expensive materials you are dealing with! Don't break anything!"_

"**Not that." **_The words were feeble, searching._

"_Sephiroth, why do you treat me like a child? I'm a SOLDIER First-Class, just like you!" Zack shouted. His violet, mako-enhanced eyes stared at the General before him, his foot readying to smash against the ground in anger._

"_Fair," green eyes looked up from the paper they had been trailing, nothing within their depths, "are you in a suicidal mood today? I can retrieve Masamune from my apartment, if it pleases you. I suggest you go away and return when your head is on straight."_

"**Nope." **_Zack could almost feel the detached body's head move, shaking 'no'_**.**

"_Come on, I want you to come meet Mom." Cloud gripped the man's shoulders, moving him quickly out of the inn and down the main street, passing several people who began pointing their fingers in wonderment. "I told her we'd be over as soon as we got situated. She's planning a big dinner on Saturday, though I don't think she'll have a problem making us grilled cheese and chocobo sandwiches. She used to when I was little, anyway."_

"**Boy, you're bad at this."**

_Fingers touched, experimenting. Lips, harsh and cold, clattered together, a mouthful of blood and saliva left in its wake. Scratch marks down his back, gouged into the honey skin. Deep, throaty moans shivered through the entire room._

"**I guess you'll need a bit more time. Now, wake up."**

* * *

"Zack!" Aeris shook him gently, her fingers clutching the top of his uniform. There was a tickle of breath near his hairline and Zack wondered why his head hurt so much. Why was Aeris there? He was with Cloud just a minute ago, hadn't he?

"Huh?" Zack whispered shakily, his head giving an awful thud in return. She placed a soft kiss on his brow, making him open his eyes.

The shattered wood surrounding him did not take from the splendor of the place. Flowers grew brazenly here. Pinks and whites splattered the soft grass, a few purples and yellows tucked into the rubble of the broken ceiling. A blood red tulip lay alone near his feet and Zack shut his eyes against the brilliance of the colors. It was too bright. Again, his head throbbed wickedly.

"Here," Aeris whispered, putting her palms against his forehead. A blast of warmth spread through his skull and down his body, soothing the aches and pain into small throbs. "You know, that's the second time you've fallen through this church. I think this is becoming routine." She gave a sheepish smile, patting her hands on her pink dress.

"Well, can you blame me? I mean, I get nursed back to health by you. Who wouldn't hurt themselves for that?"

The air in the church changed slightly and Aeris gave a chuckle, "Zack Fair, what am I going to do with you, hmm? You, falling down through my church and ruining all the flowers-"

Zack silenced her with a finger as he leaned up a little. "You aren't happy I survived? This roof broke my fall. Twice, as a matter of fact. I'd like to personally thank it now." He rolled over, out of the woman's grasp, resting belly down on the grass, fingers digging into the soft earth. He began scratching letters into the soil. Looking accomplished, Zack read out, "'Oh grassy roof top, thank you for saving me from an unfortunate and untimely death. Sincerely, Zack.'"

Aeris laughed. "Zack, you always had a way with apologies," she whispered, brushing some nonexistent dirt from her lap as she stood. "Either way, you were unconscious for about an hour. I couldn't wake you, and my materia was unresponsive towards you." She knelt down, picking up a few roses near her overturned basket.

"An hour, you say?" The ex-SOLDIER flipped himself up, sure to avoid any of the flowers. The red tulip swayed in the artificial breeze – there was never any wind in the slums.

The woman nodded, then glanced towards the door instinctively. A startled gasp rose through her throat, and she dropped her basket of flowers again. "Turks," she whispered, face going pale.

Zack rested his hand on the Buster sword and moved forward, putting himself between the woman and the Turk.

It was Reno.

Zack hadn't even needed to look at his face or that shock of red hair; the mere presence he exuded was enough. Cold, professional and stoic wasn't Reno's type of thing. Not the _real_ Reno, anyway.

"Aw, ya hurt me." The red-head slapped one hand to his chest, a pained look crossing his face. "I mean, after all I did, ya still ain't trustin' me yet?" Reno gave a solitary laugh, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from his dirty suit pocket. His bright emerald eyes scanned the pews, searching. "Hey, where's the cute blond? Ya know, the one who was all comatose an' shit?" He made a hand flourish meant to indicate the blond's height, "'Bout this tall, with some fucked up shit for hair. You know the kid, righ'?"

"I don't know," Zack said, worry suddenly leaking into his words.

One elegant red eyebrow raised. Reno threw the raven-haired man an agitated look. "Shit. You've gotta be kiddin' me. Went all out of my fuckin' way to save your country bumpkin ass, the kid's too, and you lose him? Shit."

"Well, aren't you tactless," Aeris huffed, grabbing Zack's arm in a feeble attempt to hide herself from the glaring emerald eyes.

Reno pulled out a match, striking it against some nearby wood. The smell of burning sulfur wafted around the room. He lifted the match to his cigarette, lighting the end. "Well, alright then, sis." The voice was so nonchalant, so cool, yet the fire burning in his emerald depths told another story.

"What do you want?" Zack said, taking a step backward for every step the Turk made in approach.

"There's a way out in the back," Aeris mumbled under her breath, too quiet for the Turk to hear. Zack jerked his head in acceptance of the plan.

The red-head stood, staring at the pair for a moment before removing the cigarette from its place at his lips. "Well, I wanna get fucked, get drunk, and get paid. But seein' as you ain't about to help with the first two anymore, I'll just get my job done. Getting paid sounds like a plan, doesn't it?" He clapped his hands, smiling sarcastically. "Well, it's good to know we're all on the same page. Now, if you, sis, will just scoot your ass over here we can get movin'."

Zack felt Aeris push her sweating hand into his own, her limb shaking. "She isn't going anywhere with you," Zack snarled.

Again the eyebrow rose. "Well, I didn't wanna do this," Reno threw the cigarette on the floor, crushing it with the heel of his unpolished shoe, "but you ain't givin' me much to work with. So," he snapped fingers and a swarm of Shinra grunts ran in, their weapons pointed at the two figures, "it looks like we're gunna have ta do this the hard way."

A small sneer crossed Zack's face. "Oh, please. You and your little army are going to attack the big, bad fucking ex-SOLDIER?" Zack let go of Aeris, making a discreet motion with his hand indicating she should sneak out back. Violet eyes traced the ground, looking for where his Buster Sword had dropped when he fell through the roof. It was lodged between a set of rotting pews. As soon as Aeris took off running, Zack leapt forward, jumping over several pews, avoiding the sudden rain of bullets.

"Don't let the Ancient get away!" Reno pointed towards a set of troops. "You! Get going!" he spat, pulling out his elecro-magnetic rod and switching it to the lowest setting.

Zack ripped his sword from its wooden prison, back-flipping from air to the ground to avoid several charging grunts. With a quick slash of his sword blood spilled to the ground. One grunt was left lying in a puddle of his body fluid.

"Reno! Call them off!" Zack yelled, using his weapon to shield from an array of bullets. The lead bounced off, reflecting back to their respective weapons.

"An' why would I do that?" Reno retorted, swinging his EMR wildly, sending sparks flying. The metal smashed into the Buster Sword. Zack felt a surge of electricity jolt through his fingers, rattling his teeth.

"Fine!" Zack swung his weapon over his head, shredding the enemy behind him in half. Warm blood oozed down his back.

Reno spared the display a reproachful look before lowering his weapon. "Y'know, why don' we just talk this out," the red-head teased, jutting out one of his shoulders, an infantile smirk spread across his face.

"Bullshit."

The Turk laughed. "Tsk, tsk, Zacky. I remember teaching you about remembering where to leave your precious cargo." A smug smile crossed his face, his eyes looking beyond Zack.

The ex-SOLDIER lowered his weapon, glancing back. A small group of grunts held Aeris in a tight grip, her green eyes filled with fear. She was trembling but her head was held high, avoiding the jests from the men who held her captive. The group of grunts didn't see her pull out a small green ball but Zack did.

He was almost positive Reno saw too.

* * *

Zack and Aeris sat on the roof, listening to the group below. Reno was sitting in the center of the flowers, staring up through the hole in the roof. Zack watched his emerald eyes tracing over the shadows Aeris and he created more than once.

"You're lucky he didn't kill all of you," Reno said. He grabbed a few blades of grass, putting them thoughtfully into his mouth.

"He couldn't have killed us, Boss," one grunt sneered through his visor, "He's just-"

The Turk sighed and spit out the grass. "An ex-SOLDIER hell-bent on destroying Shinra from the inside out. Yeah, moron, he wasn't going to kill us. Well, not me, anyway. After all, aren't there a few freshly dug graves waiting for your pals?" Reno went to his knees and began searching for something.

"Well... that girl would've killed you too. You see that fireball she sent at us? I thought we were all gonna toast like freaking marshmallows."

"We should get out of here," Zack whispered after a moment, directing his head towards Sector Five. As Aeris nodded her head, out of the corner of Zack's eye he caught emerald green eyes staring back at him, a blood-red tulip clutched in his hand.

* * *

Elmyra glared at Zack.

"He could have gotten you killed!" she yelled, banging her fist on the table in frustration. Normally, she was a happy woman... Not with Zack, though. Couldn't even blame her.

"Mom, he protected me," Aeris stated, calmly covering her mother's hand with her own.

The woman took in a deep, choke of a breath. She nodded reluctantly. "Where's that boy?" she jerked her head towards Zack, indicating he should talk.

"I… I don't know. I fell from the Sector Five Mako Reactor-"

Elmyra cut in at that moment. _"You_ blew up that reactor!" The woman stood, throwing the wooden furniture back. She pointed one quivering finger at the door, vein in her neck bulging. "Out, out, out!" she screamed.

"Mother, he didn't do anything wrong!" Aeris pleaded, standing, throwing her arms around her mother's neck. "Calm down."

"Get out!"

"Yes, ma'am," he whispered, tucking his chair in before going upstairs to collect the few belongings he and Cloud owned.

Aeris followed him not too long after, her eyes blurred with tears. "I'm going with you," she whispered, grabbing a small bag from her drawer and throwing a few things in. "It won't take that long to get some money together and find Cloud." She nodded her head in a decisive manner.

"Aeris, that isn't you. Just stay here. I'm gonna go find Cloud." He tossed the small bag over his shoulder, across from the Buster Sword. "Wasn't like I was planning on staying here much longer. Your ma's wanted me out and I can't say I blame her. Being a mercenary's tough."

He leaned forward and kissed the woman's tear-stained cheek quickly before leaving without another word.

* * *

Zack was almost to Sector Six when he noticed Aeris trailing behind, her rod strapped to her back and a small smile on her face. When questioned, Aeris answered simply, "I told you that you couldn't leave me here, alone," her eyes brightening.

The ex-SOLDIER resisted the urge to growl in frustration. The flower girl was so naïve at times... "It's dangerous," Zack warned, gesturing towards the group of dead monsters shed across the front of the road, "You could get hurt, and I don't want that."

The smile stayed in place. "Zack, I can take care of myself. See?" She pulled off her rod, brandishing it in front of her, "I can fight. Plus, I'm good with materia!" Aeris reminded him of the group of torched grunts at the church.

"You were able to fry a couple of grunts, but does that mean you're a warrior?" Zack shook his head. "I'm not going to stop you, but I'm going back to AVALANCHE. They owe me a good two thousand gil and I know they've got more work." He resisted the urge to frown; would he get aid for his work on the mission, or did falling drop him to zero?

"Well then, so will I." Aeris pulled out a restore materia, running it through her hands. A sudden gentle warmth cascaded down Zack's shoulder where a small animal bite had ripped through his tough layer of clothes. She pushed the orb back into its slot on her rod with a small smile that reminded Zack of the cat who got the cream.

Zack nodded tightly. "Well, we'll see." He looked down the road through the final bramble of debris. "I see that old play ground. Come on, let's go just a little further."

The two walked in comfortable silence, Zack striking down the three enemies they crossed. The park was deserted, as the ex-SOLDIER expected. The small amount of light made the cracks in the equipment glow and the graffiti created a grotesque canvas. Why would they destroy the only playground for miles?

"Come on!" Aeris yelled joyfully, running forward, a giggle escaping her lips. Zack shook his head and followed, less enthusiastic, as the woman climbed up an oddly shaped slide.

"You know, these Sectors once had names. Beautiful names too," Aeris said as Zack climbed up, sitting himself close to the woman. "Sector Five was named Velina. Pretty, isn't it?" Aeris said wistfully.

"Yeah, that's nice," Zack stated, looking over at an old battered sign displaying the words 'Sector Six'. "What were Six and Seven called?"

Aeris rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Well, Sector Six was named Malaka and Sector Seven was Seraphina. They're all pretty interesting. Most came from other places. The others were Wehdin, Ibata, Orios, Resilia, and Jaligh... I think."

Zack whistled low. "And how do you remember those things?"

Aeris gave a short laugh and pushed her arm playfully into Zack's. "I just have a good memory, that's all." She played with the pink bow in her hair, the small white materia glowing dully in her long brown tresses.

Entranced, Zack couldn't help but ask, "What's that?" Carefully, he lifted his hand to touch the small materia. It felt warm, he noticed.

"Just something my mother gave to me long ago…" She touched it with her own finger. "You don't remember that I told you all about it?"

Zack shrugged. "Can't say that I do. Wanna tell it to me again?"

Aeris looked down, putting both hands in her lap, folded together. "My mother gave it to me, before she returned to the Planet," Aeris whispered, "I don't think it does anything. I tried to make it work but nothing happened. It's useless but it reminds me of her face." Aeris looked up, her green eyes emotional. "I still hear her sometimes."

"You hear her in your dreams?" Zack questioned, confused. _The voices that talk to me are completely and totally caused by my imagination,_ he thought, running one of his hands through his raven colored spikes. He knew a little about Aeris's past, whatever he could glean from their meetings, but she only touched the bare surface...

"No..." Aeris shook her head. "I hear her crying with the Planet. You've never heard the Planet scream?"

Zack messed his eyes up in confusion. "The Planet screams? Is it like a baby or something?"

Aeris shook her head again. "No, it screams. The Planet's dying and it knows. It's being killed slowly and I don't know if I can fix it."

"But why would you have to worry?" Zack questioned.

"I'm supposed to take care of it. I'm the only one who really can."

* * *

It was pure luck, really, how Zack and Aeris had walked through the main walkway to Sector Six's Wall Market to waltz upon a panicked Cloud. Aeris yelled his name, throwing her hands around the startled blond who stood there for a moment, large blue eyes popping out, staring out at Zack in wonder. Aeris let go when she noticed the boy's eyes drawn to Zack.

"I thought you died!" Cloud yelled, hugging the larger man around the waist.

Zack smirked, rubbing the kid's blond hair in a noogie. "Me? Die? Haha, Cloud. SOLDIERs don't die by taking a little fall into a flowerbed. I told you there was absolutely nothing to worry about." He chuckled again. "How did you get here anyway? I thought you would've stayed with AVALANCHE and all. Tifa wouldn't let you go that easy, would she?"

Cloud let go of the older man, shaking his head 'no'. The panic returned to his eyes. "I've been trying to find her for hours. When we got back she told me to go into Sector Six with her because there's this guy named Corneo," Aeris took a deep breath in at the sound of the word, "who had information. Some big honcho or something.

"She was carried off about three hours ago by a group of men that said they wanted their boss to see the new girl in town. I've been talking around, and all the people have been pointing over there," Cloud pointed down the road, "which is where this guy lives." The blond took a breath, searching Zack's face for an answer or a clue.

Zack looked where Cloud had indicated and closed his eyes. Corneo, the man with a thousand women, twenty guns and a fair bit of information... had Tifa.

Tifa was a woman.

"This isn't good..." Zack started, "I think we need to go help Tifa."

"Of course we're going to save this woman!" Aeris whispered frantically. "I've heard about what this man does for fun. I couldn't bear the thought of letting someone like _that_ do that to someone who seems so nice!"

"Well, how 'bout you, Cloud? I don't even really need an answer from you." Zack looked around, biting his lip. "We need to get into Corneo's and he only lets women in." He pondered his words in his mind, rolling them over his tongue.

Aeris bent her head down, a small giggle erupting from her pink lips.

"What is it?" Cloud asked the woman, his mako blue eyes confused.

"I think she has an idea," Zack stated, grinding his teeth together. "We aren't going to like it very much, I take it?" Aeris put one hand over her lips shaking her head no. "Does this have anything to do with what I think you're thinking?"

"That's kinda vague," Aeris laughed, pointing over towards a dress shop, "but I really do think we are on the same page. Right, Miss Cloudy?"

The blond's mouth opened, shut and opened again.

"No."

"Yes."

"No, Zack."

"Yes, Miss Cloudy."

* * *

The dressmaker was completely wasted.

The sole thing his blue orbs seemed able to focus on was the drink, the haze of alcohol making him sway back and forth on his swiveling seat. Six shot glasses and three empty beer bottles stood like chess pieces on the counter. The man was playing with them as if they were his favorite toys, his giggling beckoning the three closer.

"Excuse me; are you the father of the girl at the dress shop?" Zack asked after he had drawn the man away from his glass toys.

"You ain't my daughter," the man mumbled. He pointed at Zack, a wishy-washy and weak gesture, "You've got a penis anyhow."

Aeris lifted her hand to her mouth. "Sir, we need some dresses," she began, using her sing-song voice.

"I ain't makin' any more dresses. Boring." He lifted a half-empty shot glass to his lips and snapped his head back, the burgundy liquid disappearing down his throat.

"Well," Cloud clapped his hands together decisively, "looks like we're out of luck!" He headed off to the door but Zack grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. "W-what? He said he wasn't interested so I'm going now. We can just bust on in there."

"No," Aeris crossed her arms in a scolding manner, "we are making you into a girl no matter what you say. Don't fight."

The drunken dressmaker looked up. "Youz makin' the boy into a girl?" He pounded his hand onto the counter and obediently, the bartender returned with a bottle of strong whiskey. After downing another shot, he looked up, eyes blazing. "That's weird. I'll do it."

Cloud's face twitched.

The dressmaker stood, slapping a twenty-gil note on the table. "In two hours I'll have a dress waiting for you. I have juz the idea. Come by in fifteen for measurements." He walked out of the bar, swaying.

Cloud sucked in a breath between his teeth.

"Don't cry, it isn't that bad," before letting go of the blond's shirt.

The boy didn't even attempt to move from his spot. Rooted to the floor, his eyes darted to several different places. "First off, not crying. I'm _pissed off._ Not upset. And second, you'll never tell anyone," Cloud said after a moment, running his tongue over his teeth. They looked extraordinarily sharp in the dim lighting of the bar.

"Of course not!" Aeris replied, smiling brightly. "If it's any consolation, I think you'll be a hot woman." She moved to gently put her small hand on his shoulder. "Zack won't say anything either, right, Zackary?" Her fingers clenched down on his should and he winced. Damn woman and her damned fingersnails.

He nodded his head. "Not a word, SOLDIER honor and all that. Do we need to spit in one another's hands and shake? Because really, eww. Rather kiss ya than have your spit in my hand."

Cloud took another deep breath before nodding. "SOLDIER honor... I haven't heard that in so long." Cloud sounded almost wistful before nodding. "As long as no one ever finds out, fine."

"Don't worry. No one'll hear about your cross-dressing adventures, I promise." And before Cloud could even respond, Zack grabbed Cloud's face by the cheeks and plopped a kiss on his mouth.

* * *

"So, he's hit you before?" Aeris asked playfully, holding Zack's head with one of her hands, the other glowing with green restore materia. The two sat at the bar, Cloud some distance from the others, his hands stuffed in his pocket. A smug look was sprawled across his face and Zack scowled at the floor.

"Yesh," Zack mumbled before sneezing, sending blood everywhere. He whimpered in pain. Thankfully, both the blood and the pain disappeared in a flash of green light and a quick swipe of a napkin.

"Well, you shouldn't do that, then. I wouldn't want you putting those lips on me like that," the woman scolded.

Zack looked over to Cloud, who snickered. "You aren't mad at me, right, princess?" he asked the blond, wondering how terrible his appearance had to be if it made Cloud look that amused.

Cloud's snickering ceased immediately. "I'm not your fucking princess," he asserted, pounding his hand against the counter, muscles constricting beneath his skin in barely restrained anger. "Don't do that again. Perv," he added as an afterthought.

"Ouch," Zack said, wiping a bit of blood from his cheek, "At least you didn't shatter it this time. Anyway, you got what you wanted: Won't tell a soul. We swapped spit, see?"

The blond pointedly ignored this comment and stood. "If we're gunna do this, we should do it now. This Corneo guy isn't going to wait long. I want to get this over with." His tone left no room for argument. Zack found himself admiring the kid's determination- his eyes were on fire.

Aeris nodded her agreement, pushing the restore materia into her bangle. "You're right. We should get moving, get you your dress, a wig, and other things to make you prettier…" She was having too much fun with this.

"Well," Zack announced suddenly, looking over to the bathroom. A man stood nearby, waddling painfully. "Before we get started, I need to go. Be right back," he said as he stood from his chair and moved towards relief.

The man waiting outside's face was contorted painfully. Zack could almost see piss in his eyes. "The bathroom occupied?" Zack questioned, glancing at the shut door.

The man nodded quickly. "I need to pee, so bad!" He crossed his legs, teeth chattering. "She's been in there for an hour."

Zack looked back to the door. He approached it cautiously and rapped his fingers against it. "Go away!" the woman yelled. The sound of vomiting came through the door. It was quiet for a moment before the woman began yelling again, "I need medicine! Please, go get me medicine!"

Zack shuffled his foot. "Alright, as long as you get out of there! That's the only bathroom I can use." He looked at the struggling man and said, "She needs medicine. Know where I could get some?"

He bit his lip, nodding, "You can get a coupon for meds at the eatery not too far away. They serve junky food."

Zack sighed and muttered to himself, "Yeah, yeah. Go get some lady some fucking meds so I can piss. Wonderful." Resignedly, he made to leave the bar.

"Where are you going?" Aeris yelled.

"Get some fucking medicine," was his answer.

* * *

He headed towards the nearby eatery (windows cakes brown and a sign in the from of the dingy store as having "The best burgers in town," despite the 't' and 'e' flickering off.) He'd never been in the place before, but he knew slum diners-you have a better chance of catching hepatitis then get a good meal. Zack tossed himself in the next-to-last seat and looked up at the cook.

"I need a coupon." Zack tossed down a twenty-gil note.

The cook glared at the money for a moment before saying, "You gotta buy sumthin'," before pushing the money back.

"I want a fucking coupon now. I don't have time to be fucking around." Zack pushed the gil back, glaring at the cook. There was no way he could miss the glow of his eyes.

The man's eyes widened in recognition. He pulled out a small coupon from his blood-splattered apron and handed it to Zack, mumbling a quick, "Don't want no trouble." He didn't even take the money.

"Are you gonna take it or what?" Zack waved the note in front of the other's face. One grubby hand meekly took the money. Zack rolled his eyes. "Now, can you tell me where in Gaia I can get some digestive?" he asked.

* * *

"You're back!" Despite the cheery words, Aeris had her hands on her hips, a glare shooting from her green eyes. "We can't have you running errands, we're busy."

Zack waved his hand in understanding. "But before we do that I need to... er, go." Using foul language seemed so weird in front of Aeris.

Aeris cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms, but said nothing.

He strolled to the bathroom, knocking on the wood twice. "Lady, I've got you some medi-" the door shot open and a hand stretched out for the bottle.

"Give it here!" she yelled. Zack shook his shoulders and handed the bottle of Digestive over. The door slammed shut. The sound of gurgling soon filled the air.

It took a few minutes for the medicine to take action but when the door opened the man who had been doing the pee-pee dance ran past the two and slammed the door. The woman fixed her shirt before handing over a bottle of perfume. "It isn't much, but it was a pain in the ass to get. Real expensive stuff." She ran her hand through her short blonde hair. "I work up there," she pointed her finger up and Zack thought immediately of the plate, the multi-billion dollar headquarter in the sky, "and my boss gave it to me. He's an ass, but if I'm nice enough maybe I'll get promoted."

Zack opened it. "This stuff reeks," he coughed, waving his hand in front of his nose in distaste.

"Well, most people love it. Hope it helps." She shrugged and walked off.

"'_Most people love it_.'" Zack whispered, a smile crossing his face.

* * *

"We need some more stuff."

Zack stood in the walkway of the dress shop, staring at Cloud. His hair was pinned up in preparation for a wig and he had taken to pacing the store racks. The dressmaker arrived five minutes before to take Cloud's measurements, mumbling about silk. After taking a look at Zack he tossed the red for a lavender silk

"A dress and wig isn't enough?" Cloud sighed, rubbing the heel of his brown boot into the wooden ground.

Zack shook his head. "We've got perfume and a dress, and Aeris just went to that gym up the road for your wig. You've got to be hot. Well, hotter than usual, to win this. If you _do_ win you'll be able to slip a few questions in, which means we can dig up some dirt on Shinra." The raven-haired man rubbed his chin with his palm, looking around for inspiration.

"Hey!" he yelled suddenly, startling woman going through a rack of pink dresses. She looked up, confused. "What would we need to make him look like a girl?" Zack asked, gesturing to Cloud.

The woman stopped regarding the dress in her hands and instead looked over at Cloud with fascination. "Well," she stared at the blond, circling around him like a hunter would its prey, "how girly do you need to make him?"

"Very girly," Zack countered.

The woman nodded thoughtfully. "Well, he has an androgynous face. Makeup would soften up his jaw-line. A wig…" she leaned forward, tugging on one of Cloud's ears, "pierce the other ear and put some crystal earrings in. Then you need underwear, pantyhose, shoes and I'd suggest you put something in his hair. A flower maybe? Tiara?" The woman let go, tilting her head down to his feet. "What size are you?"

Cloud looked around for a moment, searching for an answer before finally shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, you should get stilettos, but make sure they're close-toed. Clean your fingernails up too," she finished, picking up her dress and walking off to the cash register.

"…That was really weird," Cloud whispered, looking at the woman's back as she paid for her purchases and left.

"I gotta agree with you, Cloud. Not everyone in the slums has their head on tight enough. Granted, we're ones to talk."

The bell above the door jingled as the woman walked out and Aeris entered, holding a platinum blonde wig. "I didn't know... so many cross-dressers," Aeris uttered, green eyes wide, staring off into space. "They gave this to me...they said I was the best they've ever seen."

"Best what?" Cloud asked, looking from the wig to Aeris's stunned face.

"Cross-dresser," she answered.

Zack laughed, banging his hand against his thigh in amusement.

Aeris huffed in embarrassment, a bright shade of tomato red suffusing her cheeks. "Well, anyway…." She ignored Zack and turned to Cloud, annunciating each syllable on his behalf, "Have you figured out what else we need?"

Cloud nodded his head and Aeris smiled.

"Oh good, we can get to shopping then." Her voice dropped. "I took a second to talk to the man standing in front of the Corneo Mansion-"

Zack cut her off with a curse word. "Are you insane? Suicidal?" His voice rose. Aeris had to elbow him lightly in the stomach to silence him. "It's _dangerous_ there," he hissed. "They could've kidnapped you and we wouldn't've known for how long?"

The woman shook her head, sending her long brown braid swinging. "It doesn't matter. He takes three girls every night. I told him not to take anyone else. There were two spots open so I told him we'd be there in a few hours or so. He thought I was cute," she added sneakily.

The raven-haired man rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'm sorry I laughed about them calling you a transvestite, alright? Can we just make sure that everything goes according to the plan I've set up? Cloud has to win."

"Why can't I win?" Aeris asked, all humor gone. Her lips drew into a small pout.

"Because we need Cloud to get some answers," Zack replied. "If he wins he can subtly get information and I just don't feel comfortable with you getting it, Aeris." The brunette opened her mouth to protest, but Zack shot her a sidelong look. "Cloud can do this. He's better than anyone else out there. Have a little faith, toots." He grabbed Aeris's hand and looked at Cloud, "I trust you, kiddo."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "I've got to win, right? Well, I'm not kissing his ugly ass. If anything goes wrong and I scream, you come and get me out of there, got it?" The boy bit his lip uncertainly, looking over Zack's head towards the clock. "We've got an hour and a half to gather up all of this crap, so I suggest we mosey."

"Mosey? Cloud, that really, _really_ blows," Zack snickered.

The blond pointedly ignored him once more.

"Considering I got that from _you, _it sure is saying something."

* * *

Time passed in a swirl of bright colors. A prostitute down the block had sold Zack a pair of purple stilettos. The earrings and a tiara were found in the materia store, where Aeris had been pointed for accessories. The man had turned around on his plush purple cushion, his blue painted fingers pulled out the two boxes. "I wouldn't do this for anyone else, y'know," he had mumbled under his breath, tossing the two containers into Zack's waiting hands. "Big Bro gave me a call not too long ago, telling me that we had another conformer. Thought they had potential, some skill, you see."

Zack did not _see_ what the man had meant. He just took the words and the boxes, nodding his head in thanks.

Next was a trip to a local pharmacy. In a small plastic bag there was a pair of white stockings and, to Cloud's very vocal disgust, a self-adhesive bra. There was also another bag, but Zack hid that behind his back, a small smirk across his face.

They took refuge in a cheap, by-the-hour hotel near the entrance of Wall Market. The dressmaker needed some room and transforming Cloud was going to take a while.

"Look, it could be a lot worse," he said as the blond pulled off his shirt, showing his pale, scarred skin. Cloud ran his fingers across several of the scars with the pads of his fingers, and Zack had to look away and steady himself. He pulled out the packages, handing two to Aeris and the other two to Cloud. "Pants off, too. I've got the stockings. We need to see if they fit."

Cloud rolled his eyes, but pushed the dark pants down his hips, letting them pool near his feet. He pulled off his socks and opened the box, pulling the white stretchy material out. His brow furrowed. "I have to wear _these_…?" he half-questioned as he looked down at his legs.

"Yep. Also, I bought this." Zack pulled out the bag from behind his back and threw it over to Aeris.

"Shaving cream? Razors?" she said numbly, looking up from the two objects she'd plundered from the bag then back to Zack, then towards Cloud.

"We need your legs to be silky smooth."

Zack snorted as Aeris took the cap off, giving Cloud a pitying look.

"You've got to be kidding. I draw the line right there." Cloud crossed a line on the floor with the ball of his foot from where he sat on the bed. "I _will not _let you shave my legs or my armpits. Nothing's even visible. I'm blond!" His voice rose over those of the next-door neighbors, whose moans had escalated to an irritating level.

"No can do, Cloud." Zack smirked again, "Aeris'll give you a hand. The last thing we need is for you to go ripping apart your legs or arms. It's painful, besides." If Cloud could break his nose, he could shave the kid bald.

The woman cocked an eyebrow. "And how would you know that, Zackary?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Well, most SOLDIERs shave their armpits, at least. Do you have any idea how gross you can get? The only thing is, well, once you shave your hair's pretty much gone for good. The hair receptacles get blocked out by the mako. That's why no one in SOLDIER ever shaves their head unless their damn certain they're into that kind of thing. Small wonder we're all sporting such wild hairdos," he finished with a toothy grin.

"I like my hair!" Cloud protested.

"You have any idea how uncomfortable it is to keep it though?"

"What if I get cold? Hair'll keep me warm."

Zack rolled his eyes at the feeble plea. "You aren't getting out of this. Aeris, pop the cap and start squirting. Don't gash him up."

The woman nodded, one hand pulling one of the razors out of the pack, the other squirting lather onto Cloud's leg.

"While you're busy, I'm gonna go grab a few other things. There's got to be someone around here with- oh, never mind. I'll just go ask the dressmaker for it." The raven-haired man walked out of the door discreetly, the sounds of Cloud begging for mercy and Aeris giggling like a school girl trailing after him.

* * *

"Your dress'll be ready in about ten minutes. Until then, I suggest you keep tight and let me put one of the finishing touches on ya," Zack said as he sat down on the bed.

Cloud was staring down at his legs mournfully. "What else do you want to do to me?" he sighed, running his fingers over the soft, satiny stockings. "Cut off my balls?"

Zack smirked at his discomfort. Dressing in drag seemed like suitable payback for the punches. "Of course not. Just turn your head that way," he made a vague gesture to the left, "and let me get this done with. Don't start bitching about the pain either." Zack pulled out a needle and grabbed hold of the blond's right ear. Before the boy even had a moment to protest the needle was through.

Cloud let out a scream of bewildered pain. "Ow, ow! Stop!" Cloud yelled, pulling his ear away from the ex-SOLDIER, fingering the newly-acquired hole. He panted painfully, glaring. "What in Gaia! You just love torturing me, don't you! Fuck_…_"

Zack stuck his tongue out from the corner of his mouth. "Naw, Cloudy. I don't like torturing you. But you gotta admit it is kinda funny with you making all those faces." He gently pinched his cheeks.

"What did I tell you about doing that?" Cloud said menacingly, his eyes narrowing. Sadly though he wasn't able to produce an ounce of fear in Zack. Screaming moments before about a new earring took all the fear, really.

Zack scratched the back of his neck. "Ah, I don't remember really. Something about maiming me, maybe?" he said, shrugging.

Aeris came in then, carrying the wig. "That thing ready?"

The woman huffed a 'yes'. "It took a little while to get it styled, but I think I did a pretty good job, don't you?" She held out the blonde wig for the two to inspect.

If possible, Cloud looked even more dejected. "Holy, what have you turned me into?" he moaned.

"Cloud, sweetheart, we aren't even close to being finished. I called the Honey Bee Inn not too long ago and because of that Big Bro's kind words they've generously decided that the three of us will be able to go in! I _know _they have makeup - some of the girls will help. But, well, we're going to need to get your dress first. Ready?"

"No," both Zack and Cloud said at the same time, the former teasingly.

"You know, why can't you do this yourself?" Cloud questioned angrily, punching his fist against the hard mattress.

"Because there is no way I could ever pass as a woman," Zack said, standing up. "You, on the other hand, are still tiny and have baby fat on your cheeks. You can pass off easier than me" He leaned over, rubbing his hand through the blond's hair. The bobby pins barely held down his spikes.

"Asshole," Cloud murmured, ducking his head out of the way, feigning a half-hearted swipe at the other.

Lazily, Zack shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, I'll go get your dress. Aeris, come with me. You still need to pick one out."

She nodded, playing with the pink ribbon in her hair. "Sure! Come on, Zack. We'll be back in a few minutes, okay Cloud?"

As the two left the room, Zack could hear the boy mumble "I hate my life," under his breath.

Zack smiled.

* * *

"Can I have this dress?" Aeris pulled out a beautiful, but low-cut, dress from the pile.

The dressmaker, in the middle of putting the finishing lace on the lavender dress, nodded affirmative.

After inspecting the garment close-up, she politely asked, "How much is it?" She looked up from her studying to glance at Zack, who was leaning over her shoulder to better see the details on the silk dress.

"You can have it," the dressmaker, now sober after several cups of strong coffee, stated as he cut the stray thread from the dress. "Least I could do. Your friend got me outta my slump. Got me back to workin'. There isn't a better way I could thank ya."

Zack tapped his foot on the floor, watching the man go about pulling the dress off the plastic doll and placing it on a hanger. "So, it's done?" he questioned.

"Yep." The man nodded, straightening out the lacy shoulder straps. "I need to go get a few underskirts from the back, but yeah, it's done."

The raven-haired man reached out a hand, skimming over the other's handiwork. It was beautiful, really. The material flowed, intricate patterns embedded into the seam and the lavender made it even nicer. It went to the knees and was off the shoulder, the sleeves were capped and puffed. Two slits from the waist down garnished the back, a creamy, lavender inside. It laced up with a white cord, tied in an intricate pattern that made the piece even more beautiful, adding that delicate touch of innocence.

Cloud was going to hate it.

"And you did this while drunk?" Zack managed, turning his head to stare at the dressmaker in open amazement.

The man scratched the back of his neck. "Wha'? It's good, right?"

"Oh Goddess, that's beautiful!" Aeris gushed, putting her hand over her heart, "Cloud's going to-"

"Fucking hate it," Zack finished, laughing hysterically. The dressmaker looked up, his eyes widening. "Oh, nothing personal. He wasn't too fond of this idea in the first place," he quickly added, patting the other man on the back happily. "So, you need a couple slips?"

The reminder made the man move off to collect said garments.

"It's a bit unconventional, though... I kind of expected less material, to be honest," Aeris said as she played with her brand new red dress. "It looks like something the President's daughter would wear to a ball."

"Well, it's still pretty and Cloud'll still look hot in it. Maybe we'll pull the skirt up, show a bit of leg? I don't know." Zack grimaced at the thought of what Cloud would do to him. "On the other hand, maybe it's best to leave it as is."

* * *

"Miss Cloudy!" Aeris called out when they came through the door "We have your dress!"

He peaked up, one blue eye training itself on the dress in Zack's arms, before it went back into the pillow.

"It's pretty, right?" Zack gave the boy a cheesy smile, spreading the dress on the bed. Cloud took a deep breath before extracting his head from the object. "Come on, up you go. We've got a woman to save and a pair of balls to get broken. Not to forget the makeup, of course."

Cloud steeled his nerves and stood. His fingernails - polished, thanks to Aeris - grabbed a hold of the dress, throwing it over his head. It slid on easily enough and after a moment he pulled it down, the self-adhesive bra making something of a chest become pronounced through the material.

"Ok, now the wig. You take care of that, Aeris." Zack tilted his head at the woman, whose face was turning a light pink. "I'll get started with the shoes. Sit down on the bed and put your foot up," he instructed.

The boy complied, his fingers drawing shapes in the sheets. Zack bent down, grabbing the pair of stiletto heels. Surprising everyone in the room, they fit.

"Jeez, Cinderella, your feet fit perfectly," Zack laughed.

Aeris shot out a small smile as she placed the wig on top of Cloud's head, securing it with a few more bobby pins. She pulled one from between her teeth and slid it deftly between the boy's scalp and some particularly unruly bangs. Once snugly placed, she topped the blonde curls with the crown and stood back.

Dumbstruck, Zack and Aeris both marveled at the magic they'd weaved.

"Wait, we're missing something." Zack tapped his lip with his finger. "Ah!" he exclaimed before he stepped forward to quickly pull the needle from the blond's ear and shoved the earrings in.

"Ow!" Cloud ground his teeth together in pain as Zack clipped the earring in place and threw the needle into a nearby trash can.

"Pull out the other one," Zack told him, holding a knapsack for the blond to place his earring in. "I've got everything in here - you know, all of our normal clothes and whatnot. Aeris has one too. Since I won't be going in there with you I'll babysit the stuff."

Cloud nodded, pulling out the small silver stud. He tossed it into the bag, picked up the other earring and began putting it in. "Remember, not a word," he reiterated as he shakily stood, attempting to adjust to the five inches added to his height. He nearly fell over twice on the way to the other side of the room. In fact, the only reason he hadn't completely toppled was because Zack was always nearby, laughing at the same time as he caught him.

"I'm getting dressed," Aeris suddenly said, pulling her dress out of the plastic bag, "No peeking!"

* * *

The inn was a foul place. Perhaps it _looked_ clean, _smelled_ fairly clean… but there was no doubt of what happened behind the doors that were connected to the circular foyer. The woman dressed in a bumblebee costume smiled but her eyes flashed. "Welcome to the Honeybee Inn," she purred, placing her hands on her hips. "Would you be the people who Big Bro called for?"

Zack nodded his head. Aeris and Cloud stood nearby; the boy had taken to looking down at the floor to make sure he tripped over nothing.

"Well, which room?" The woman swayed her hips, walking to one of the doors.

"No thanks, we don't have the time. These two girls need to meet with Corneo in a few minutes," Zack said, eyeing the northern-most room where the ex-SOLDIER had seen several women 'worker bees' enter.

The woman's eyes bugged out a bit, staring at Zack, scandalized. "We actually need to see some of your, uh, colleagues. Miss Cloudy here," Zack made a vast motion towards Cloud with his right hand, "wants some makeup on h-her," he finished with a stutter, biting on his lip.

The woman looked warily at Zack then towards Cloud.

"Um, alright!" she said before clapping her hands together twice, leading the three towards the room that the girls shared. "Honeybees!" she yelled, gaining the attention of the women who were dressing, "We need you girls to put a bit of makeup on this poor chick!"

A honeybee girl reached out a hand, grabbing at Cloud's arm. "And you need to make a 'bzzzz' out of it! They have 'the meeting.'"

Cloud looked horrified at the prospect but he bore it grimly.

A can of hairspray dropped to the ground.

"Hehe." The woman backed up quickly, leaving the room.

The girls took a few steps forward, armed with makeup wands, lipstick tubes and eyelash curlers. They had the same look of utter concentration planted on their faces as they circled the cross-dressing boy, wielding their makeup like deadly weapons.

* * *

"Holy, I'll never be the same again." Cloud bit his painted bottom lip.

"Don't do that!" Zack said, smacking Cloud's hand. "You'll get that shit all over your teeth."

The trio had begun their walk toward the Corneo Mansion, three weapons attached to Zack's back along with several bags. He wondered idly how he would be able to fight with all of the baggage.

"You-" the blond began.

"Don't even finish that sentence, kiddo. We've gotten you all prettified and now you're going to go do this. You've got to do it." Zack's voice was serious. "Now stand still so I can spray this formaldehyde-smelling crap on ya."

Cloud covered his nose quickly as the spray came. "Ugh," he spluttered, sneezing.

"Gotta agree with you there, kid." Zack smiled a short and crooked smile, pushing the two 'girls' forward. "You ready?"

"Yes," Aeris said, pulling the braid out and fanning her hair around her.

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with." Cloud crossed his arms in front of him, glaring off to the side, particularly man-like.

Zack took a deep breath in. "Aw, come on. It'll be fun. Something to tell your grandkids one day."

"Like Holy it will!" Cloud stated firmly. "When this is over and done with I never want to hear another word." The blond took a step forward tilting his head towards Aeris gently. "In and out, right?"

The woman nodded, grabbing Cloud's hand as she began walking forward, attempting to give him strength through her fingers. Zack ducked back, watching their progress, how the man at the door was giving both women a predatory gleam, his words slinking through the air. "You're both fucking hot!" he said with a whistle.

"Yeah, but don't think you can have either," Zack mumbled, glaring.

* * *

The man at the front door was easy enough to get past: one hit to the head with the back of Zack's wrist had him on the ground, eyes rolled back to show the whites. Zack took precautions and yanked the body none too gently out of the way, stashing him behind the house. It wouldn't have been good to have anyone know something fishy was happening. The guy would wake up with a nasty lump on his skull, but he was far luckier than the others.

The guard was much, much luckier than Corneo.

_When I get my hands on him I'll cut his cock off,_ Zack thought brutally, a sneer crossing his pale lips. During his time as a SOLIDER, the stealth learned from hanging around the Turks had eventually rubbed off. So had the cruelty, for that matter.

It was a blessing.

The shadows bathed him in darkness, making the three weapons attached to his back fade away. The only thing that could not disappear were his violet eyes. He kept them tightly closed.

Zack slipped through the open door easily, too easily for his liking. All the readying for a fight was pointless; the only thing inside was brightly colored tapestries and pictures of indecent women.

He approached the front desk and looked around. Papers were scattered across the wood and the phone line was disconnected.

"What'd you want? You have an appointment wit' one of the girls?" A woman said from behind Zack. He turned around to see her, frizzed hair and smudged makeup, walking down the stairs. She pushed past toward the desk. She ran her fingers over the books, pale digits turning the pages gently while stroking the yellow paper.

"Uh, well." There was no way out of this one, Zack realized before it was too late. There was no time and it didn't look like anyone was booked. He would have to ki-

She glanced up, beady blue eyes widening a fraction as she looked past him. "Oh, I see. I'm so very sorry, Mister Sinclair. I just started a few days ago," she said, stumbling over her words, slamming the book down on the table in a very unprovocative way. She dropped her stature, lowering her shoulders. Now, more than anything, she looked like a small child. "I'll get your room ready for you and send up your _partner_." She hiked her nightdress above her knees and ran upstairs.

Zack turned back and looked at the man in front of him. He crossed his arms in front of him.

"Y'know, I've been savin' your ass a bit, Fair," Reno's voice flitted from the edges of the cigarette, smoke rolling from his nostrils. "You owe me like, wha'? Two, three favors?" He clapped his hands. "So, why ya here? It sure ain't cause ya need ta get laid. Sis has _gotta_ be takin' care of that for ya."

"What in Holy was that about, Reno?"

"Nuh-uh, you're gunna answer my questions first. Why's an entire weapon shop attached to your back might be a good start." He plucked the cigarette from his lips and blew a stream of smoke toward Zack.

Zack gritted his teeth and waved away some of the smoke. _Reno Sinclair, Turk extraordinaire, nothing but a pain in the ass_, the ex-SOLDIER thought. A fucking menace, that was what he was. With his cigarette dangling from his lips and his rat-nest hair... "Why would I tell you? The last time we talked you had a bunch of nuts try and kidnap Aeris." Zack's fingers tingled for the Buster Sword, but he mashed them into his pockets.

"Aw, don' start wit' me. Just tell me why your ass is at a brothel and I might let ya go withou' consequences." He snuffed the cherry of the cigarette, burning crimson like his hair, out with the heel of his shoe. "I'm here for my appointment." He slid another cigarette from behind his left ear. With the other he attempted to smooth out the wrinkles in his blue suit. A few droplets of reddish brown liquid stood out against his otherwise clean, white shirt.

Zack glared in distaste. "I'm here for noble, heroic reasons. Not to fuck someone's ass."

"Yowch, that stings. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Jus' be on your merry way an' get outta my hair. I've got a nice piece waiting for me." Reno smirked, running his tongue over his lips. "And then I've gotta take care of business." He walked past, his emerald eyes burning holes into Zack's violet ones as he added, "You always know where you can find me."

"Fuck you."

"Hn, maybe." Reno smirked wickedly as he waved one hand nonchalantly toward Zack and he sauntered up the stairs.

* * *

Tifa entered first, dressed in a dark blue two piece _thing_. Zack had a rather hard time looking away from her bulging cleavage and her exposed Nibelheim skin. Cloud had that skin, the ex-SOLDIER noted before he had pulled his eyes up. Bright neon blue makeup adorned her eyes and a bright fuchsia lipstick glistened on her lips.

"Zack?" Tifa whispered, motioning him to get down.

Zack nodded quickly, ducking below the front desk. Somehow he managed to make all of the weapons fit before the complaining man walked up, the sound of a hand smacking something reverberating through the silent foyer.

"If Corneo doesn't want you, I'll be sure to put you to good use, babe," the man said huskily, and a squeak came from someone's mouth.

"Leave hi- her alone!" Aeris pounded her foot on the ground but the man ignored her.

"Let the lady choose. She's got a mouth... she can use it for more than one thing."

Zack grinded his teeth together in frustration. The small slip up by Aeris, which Zack was nearly positive was not a slip up at all, had informed Zack of one thing: Cloud had really convinced the man, and all the men nearby, that _he_ was a _she_.

"I-I don't know," Cloud muttered and Zack nearly hit his head on the table.

"He's actually pulling it off," Zack whispered, putting one of his hands over his mouth. It had been a long shot with a very far-fetched chance of success but... Shit, Cloud did it.

"Well, babe, I'll be waiting." The man took a step forward and his expensive shoe stopped near Zack's head. The ex-SOLDIER couldn't resist the temptation growing within his throat. He spat, the shiny yellow phlegm gleamed in the pale light on the bastard's shoe.

A snort came from not too far away, and the ex-SOLDIER imagined Cloud, his head hanging low, seeing the spit soar.

"What's that, babe?" the man asked, taking another step.

The clock rang incessantly from above and Zack could hear all of the girls (and Cloud) sigh in relief.

"Better take you up," the man sighed. Once again the sound of a hand smacking on soft skin made Zack twitch.

* * *

Zack really needed to send the Turks a thank you note for teaching him the basics in espionage. Hanging from the corner of the room (the perfect spot from which to ambush opponents) he had a full view of everything going on in the room next to him. His stomach churned, nothing to do with the height or the weight of the things on his back. It probably would have been easier to be on the ground, but he couldn't take chances for Corneo seeing him.

"I've been looking for quite some time, and perhaps tonight one of you will become my bride. Woo hoo! Pretty little things, all of you! I want all three of you." Corneo said, his hands behind his back. He paced the room for a moment, tapping a finger against his lip.

Corneo was an old and fat man, his balding blond head reminding Zack of too-polished shoes. He wore ridiculously garish robes that couldn't hide the bulge of his stomach or his... interest. Zack knew about Corneo. He was a skeevy guy on the best of days, monster of the worst. Shinra kept with him for the simple fact of more control over the masses below the plate.

Tifa pushed out her chest as he passed and Aeris tilted her head to the side, bright eyes twinkling. Cloud, who had been looking shyly at his feet, now looked up. His blue eyes widened and blinked at the Don a few times before he looked back down.

"Don't do that, pretty!" Corneo placed his fingers on Cloud's neck, forcing his head to the side. He pinched Cloud's ear between his fingers and Zack heard Cloud suck in a sharp breath, before going back to twisting at his blond curls.

"I've chosen my princess for the night!" Corneo announced suddenly. Zack noticed the man's fingers grip a little harder onto Cloud's wig, one hand suggestively moving down to his thigh. The blond's face turned slightly pink and a growing look of horror became more and more apparent.

Apparently Corneo thought the flush indicated happiness. "Hoo boy! Yes, princess, my choice for the night is this beautiful, healthy looking girl!" He grabbed Cloud's hand, spinning him around.

Both Tifa and Aeris looked ashamed and upset. The old man merely waved his hand at them. "You two can go. Maybe another time."

A pair of men standing at the door escorted the two other women out and Zack resisted the urge to jump down. Despite his training, his legs were on fire. He had to wait another minute or so until Corneo disappeared behind the curtain, his fingers entwined in Cloud's dress.

When he managed to get down without a sound, Zack crept to the curtain and listened in. The soft material blew against his skin, sending a shiver through Zack's body. The voices were hardly muffled by the thin material between the two worlds: one of heroes, one of debauchery.

"So, princess, what's your name?" The material was also slightly transparent so the ex-SOLDIER was able to see the others' outlines. Cloud sat on the bed, his legs crossed. The Don was further towards the end of the bed, peeling off his robe.

"Cloud," the blond uttered in a soft voice.

"Cloud? So pretty," the man purred, touching Cloud's shoulders. Bile rose in Zack's mouth as he watched Cloud and the pervert interact.

The Don seemed slightly perturbed by Cloud's lack of enthusiasm. "Is there… another?" he asked, rubbing Cloud's back, running fat fingers through the stray hairs of the wig. His breath was heavy and husky.

Zack noticed Cloud flinch. "Yes," he finally whispered.

"What's his name?" Don Corneo pulled his pants down over his gigantic stomach, a small frown on his lips.

"Zack," Cloud answered.

Zack choked. Corneo turned his head for a moment, looking over at the door before turning his attention back to Cloud. "Well, let me wipe his touch away from you. Hoo boy!" He lifted the lavender strap from Cloud's shoulder. "I can make him disappear." He kneeled down, touching his lips to the crook of the blond's neck.

The black-haired man bit his lip to keep silent. He had promised Cloud safety and right now he was in the snake's pit.

"I have some questions," Cloud started, but was silenced.

"Cloud, don't struggle. I'll make you feel beautiful." A blue-veined, wrinkled hand went to the gown's back clasp.

The blond began to struggle lightly; it was obvious there was something going n, something very wrong.

"I said I have some questions," Cloud said again, but Corneo grabbed Cloud's neck and forced him down onto his back.

"No, no, precious," the Don was saying, "Don't do that. I've got the entire place surrounded by guards. It would be sad to see them with their filthy fingers on your beautiful skin." He bent his head closer to Cloud, pushing his lips to his left ear.

"No!" Cloud yelled, pushing Corneo away. The man tumbled uncertainly away, a look of anger across his face.

It happened in a flash. Corneo was on top of the kid, pushing his hands up the dress. Cloud screamed loudly, beating at the man's face. Zack could have swore Cloud's eyes flashed green as Corneo slapped him across the face, sending his head into the headboard. The same grimy hand went down, covering over Cloud's mouth until he bit into the flesh.

"Zack!" Cloud panicked.

"Shut up!" Corneo whispered harshly, digits crawling up the boy's thigh.

There was not even a moment of hesitation on Zack's part. The loose skin he grasped felt like putty under his fingers and the bulging eyes and pallid skin sickened the ex-SOLDIER.

"Zack!" Cloud yelled and pulled his dress down. Zack noticed that there was something wrong with Cloud's eyes, that there was a tear that'd escaped from the cornerof his eyes, but he didn't want to look. He looked like a broken doll, the glass eyes pulled out by an angry brother, the dress wrinkled and stained. "What the fuck was that?"

The old man was not pleased. "Lover boy?" he cringed, his stubby fingers pulling at Zack's larger ones.

"It would be easy to kill you." The ex-SOLDIER dug his nails into the man's throat, a maniacal sneer spread across his mouth. Zack snapped his eyes to Cloud, who was biting his lips. "You okay?"

"We're here!" Tifa yelled, running into the room.

Aeris skidded into the room close behind, yelling, "Cloud, are you alright!" Her eyes quickly found the blond struggling to stand from his place on the bed. He was tripping over the folds of his dress, a furious look on his face.

Zack let go of the old man in an instant, moving quickly enough to catch the boy before he fell face first into the floor.

"Lover boy and the rest of you against me?" Corneo spit onto the mattress, his eyes burning into Cloud. "Take the little whore if you want her."

Zack wrapped his arms around the kid, pulling him into a standing position. Cloud's face was leaking fresh tears, but the anger was a multitude more powerful. "I'm no whore," Cloud hissed, wiping his face on Zack's shirt.

"Come on, we're getting out of here." Zack pulled the boy up with one hand, reaching around his back with the other. If Cloud wasn't so shocked, there would have been no way he would have let himself be coddled. "Tifa, go get our bags. They're in the next room. We're leaving." He pulled Aeris's rod off his back and threw it towards her. She caught it with her hand, attaching the belt across her back.

Cloud had other plans, though. He grabbed Zack's sword from his back and with a move which would have laid a First Class on his ass, pointed the sword like it was paper. "You're going to talk now or I'll fucking cut them off." He pointed the blade at the jugular vein throbbing in the Don's neck.

Tifa returned with a few bags in her hands. "Got them. No more, right?"

Zack shook his head 'no.' He allowed Cloud to continue threatening Corneo, feeling _justice _swirling in the pit of his stomach.

"Good. I wasn't able to find anything else anyway." She deposited them at the foot of the bed.

Corneo lipped a few words that none of the people in the room were able to catch. Aeris put one foot on bed, staring at the shaking man. "You'll talk, or I'll smash them," she threatened.

Zack noticed Tifa looked fairly confused by the whole situation, her eyes large.

"No!" The fat man covered the front of his pants, attempting to protect his precious jewels. "I'll tell you what you want! Just please, don't do anything to me!" He looked over to Cloud, pleading. "Tell them to leave me alone!" he wailed.

Cloud sneered and cocked his head back and spat into the man's eyes. "I'm not your fucking princess." He wiped his lips with the hem of his dress, mako blue eyes glaring.

Tifa nodded lightly, looking at the others. She moved towards the Don and cracked her knuckles threateningly. "If you don't talk I'll rip them off," she warned.

Corneo's face lost all of the color. He did not even try to wipe the slimy liquid from his eye. "Please don't! I'll tell you everything you want! Everything!"

Aeris looked to Tifa, who nodded her head. "Well," the dark-haired woman smirked, "what do you know about the Shinra?"

"They want me dead," he moaned, crawling towards Tifa. "I know too much and they've sent the Turks after me!"

"Reno didn't look like he was in a hurry to kill you," Zack stated, remembering the smiling two-faced man. "Though, he did say that he needed to take care of business."

"And he will! See! The Shinra maniacs want me dead because I know too much, about Sector Seven, about-" he clamped his mouth shut with his hand, a look of horror adorning his face.

Tifa's eyebrows rose. "What about Sector Seven?" she demanded.

The Don sighed, knowing he was defeated. "Shinra's pulling the plug on Sector Seven. In a twenty four hours or so all that'll be left is a pile of rubble. Once the Plate Release System is activated… boom!" He inched closer to the headboard. Too quickly for any to react, he pushed a small button embedded in the wood.

And with that, the floorboards around the bed opened up and swallowed them.

* * *

That small amount of information extracted was enough to cause serious worry for the four. The Sector Seven plate was to come down in a day's time. Blood would pool in the streets and screams would erupt in the air. The smell of mako would be overpowered by blood and thousands of lives would be crushed in a moment of ill-fated superiority. Four people had the knowledge to save the sector, yet there they were, stuck in the center of a vast sea of bones, silk and bottles of empty wine, all accompanied by a very, very loud roaring.

"Zack, I don't think this is good…" Cloud stared as the floor began to rumble and the liquefied filth of the sewers became waves.

* * *

**Please Review!**


	6. A Talk of Apocalypse

**Edited 02/04/2012**

* * *

Chapter Five: A Talk of Apocalypse

Zack was drawn to it. It washed in with the sewer water, a devilish monster he was sure Corneo'd either bred or bought for this reason exactly. Larger than most monster, its skin a foul greenish-blue, the color of a sick man's face. Two large horns protruded from its head and the tangled fur.

"Shit!" Cloud yelled, reaching back for his katana. The metal glistened in the low sewer light. "What is that thing?"

Tifa raised one gloved hand, her fire materia reacting, and shot a spurt of flames at the monster. Aeris followed her lead, noticing there was no way they could physically attack. Their own physical attacks, while powerful against weak monsters, were nothing but swats and matchsticks compared to both Zack and Cloud.

"Cloud, let's kick this thing's ass!" Zack yelled, slipping his own sword from its sheath, dodging a forked tail. He swung his Buster sword, barely grazing the creature's hard-as-iron skin. "Shit!" he seethed as he evaded another assault, this time in the form of a swiping claw.

Cloud took this moment to attack, slamming his katana into the monster's foot. Several sparks appeared as the metal grazed what seemed to be metal as well. Zack looked at the feet, noticing the shackles protecting its ankles: a weak spot.

Aeris and Tifa both sent off a few more fire spells, the former climbing up a nearby stairway to avoid another oncoming wave of water. "Watch out!" she shouted from her safe spot.

The black-haired man saw the wave approaching from behind the monster and quickly moved out of the way, grabbing onto a thick piece of metal with one hand, aiming his sword at the monster's head with the other. Effortlessly, it slid in like a knife through water, piercing the thin membrane protecting its brain. He pulled out his sword, eliciting a feral growl of immeasurable pain from the monster.

"Cloud, move!"

A streak of fire launched from Tifa's hands towards Cloud, who ducked out of the way, landing headfirst into the filthy water. Zack moved to give Aeris a clear shot. She unleashed several consecutive fireballs. When the flurry ended Zack quickly shoved his sword into the monster again.

Cloud stood, spitting out a mouthful of water, and plunged his weapon into the already huge hole in the monster's head. To get a better reach he jumped onto his foe's back. His blade slid further in. Zack could see red blood mixing with greenish blue. A low groan rattled his allies' heads as the monster fell to the sewers, the chain binding him to his deathbed. Cloud fell, too.

"Shit!" Zack yelled, watching Cloud fall, a gaping wound in his shoulder. Stunned, Zack let his own sword go clattering to the ground. Tifa was quick though - even before the sound of metal echoed, she had the wound sealed.

Cloud shook his head for a moment before spitting out a bit of blood. "Well, that wasn't fun." He shrugged and grabbed his shoulder, dusting it off, inspecting the non-existent damage. "Thanks, Tifa."

The woman nodded, pushing the orb of materia back into her glove.

* * *

Zack wasn't pleased. "You need to make sure you don't die, moron." He tossed a pair of stained pants at the kid, who placed them on the bar nearby.

"What, you think I _like_ getting impaled by objects?" he returned as he pulled off the tangled blond wig, tossing it down into the murky water with a disgusted grunt. "I never want to do anything like that again," Cloud mumbled, digging his foot into the wig, spitting onto it. Zack heard a small, "Where's fire materia when you need it?"

Zack folded his arms, violet eyes glowing in the pale light. "That's _exactly _what I'm starting to think. rable-rouser."

"Well…" He struggled for a moment, his hand far above his head, reaching for the back zipper. After a moment he lowered his arm and looked at Zack. "Look, would you just help me with this?" he said, exasperated, stepping toward the ex-SOLDIER and turning around. "I'm not made of goo, here."

Zack nodded and ran his fingers up the panel of the dress. His digits ghosted against the skin as he unclasped the top. "You know, we really should keep this," Zack stated as he pulled the zipper down, revealing the scarred skin of Cloud's back.

"So you can use it as blackmail?" Cloud turned around, letting the material pool at his feet. He stepped out, kicking the dress into a nearby wall. "Maybe when Gaia freezes over."

Zack watched the blond pull off his under-slips, tossing them in the direction of the lavender silk. "I wouldn't do that, Cloud," he said, serious, watching as Cloud huffed in disbelief and sent his fingers once again groping for a clasp he could not reach. "You know you can count on me," he added. Without question or answer, he stepped forward, quickly unclasping the bra. It fell to the ground.

Cloud turned, cocking his head. "I know, but... There's so much you're not telling me, I can feel it and I can see it." Cloud looked down and splayed one hand across his scarred chest, running the pads of his fingers across the scars.

Zack closed his eyes for a moment before kneeling down. He noticed, painfully, that the straps to the shoes had begun cutting into Cloud's ankles, red bruises already ringing his leg. Chains, much like the monster lying outside. "Look," he started, reaching down to pull at the shoe's strap, "why don't you get dressed? We can talk about this when we get to drier land. Where it doesn't smell." Zack gave a small, fake smile, trying to reassure the boy.

Cloud took in a shaky breath, pulling his legs below him. "Just put my clothes where my pants are. I'll find you once I'm finished." He grabbed the stiletto heels with his hand, tossing them past Zack. "Look, I can't undress with you standing there." He pointed toward the clothes pile then out at a nearby door. "Go."

"'kay." Zack stood up, pulling a few other items from the bag, placing them delicately near the pair of worn out pants, "Holler if you need anything."

* * *

"This place is creepy," Aeris whispered, looking around at the desolate and empty trains, the smell of oil-slicked train tracks and mako permeating the air.

"The Sector Seven Train Graveyard," Tifa acknowledged, her eyes scanning the cars. "They used this place to bury some of the dead who came back from the First Wutaian War. Nasty thing," she concluded, pulling the red jacket Aeris lent her with a shiver.

Cloud shivered too. "Very nasty. I remember-" he cut himself off, looking down at his brown boots. The words rippled through the air.

Zack scrunched his nose a bit, tossing a few things into a nearby train car. "Well, it looks homely enough." He walked towards one of the nearby empty barrels, sticking his head inside. "We can make a nice bonfire. Then we rest for a little while." Cloud sent him a look, which made him nod wearily and acknowledge, "And talk. But make it fast, alright?"

"Me and Aeris'll go and find some kindling," Tifa said, pointing her thumb toward a large pile of wood on the other side of the train. "I don't think we can use these."

Aeris nodded. "Agreed. Let's go!" She smiled a large, glowing smile before walking off, twirling her rod in one hand.

"I guess you'll be going with her?" Zack asked.

Tifa sighed. "Yep." She shot a look at Cloud, raising her hand in a short farewell gesture. She turned around and followed Aeris, walking through the light mist and disappearing between the monstrous cars.

When the two were gone, Cloud rounded on Zack, eyes narrowed suspiciously. He crossed his arms in the defensive gesture Zack realized he'd adopted since they broke out of Hojo's lab, dispassionately staring.

"What do you want to know?" Zack sighed, sitting on the edge of the compartment where he had thrown their belongings. He noticed, faintly, that the water a nearby pool was the poisonous color of mako. "They aren't going to stay away long. Aer is a worry-wart."

"She's just… worried." He thought for a moment. "About you," he added as an afterthought.

Zack patted the spot beside him. "'Bout what though? I'm perfectly fine! _We're _perfectly fine. See? Not even a pimple." Zack poked his face and pulled at his skin.

Cloud bit his lip for a moment. " Maybe she's worried that you're going to leave her."

At this Zack laughed, grabbing Cloud's arm, pulling him practically onto his lap. "Who would I go with? Tifa? She's a nice girl and everything but I thought _you _liked her. I don't play around with my best buddy's girl!" Zack gave Cloud a light noogie.

Cloud jerked away, jumping down from the makeshift seat, landing on his feet. "Tifa isn't my girl. I don't even like her that way."

Zack's mouth dropped open unceremoniously. "Why in Gaia not? Are you blind?"

"No, I'm not blind," he answered hotly, pounding his foot into the grating below, "but Tifa isn't the type of person I'm into."

Zack clicked his tongue. "My advice to you is to find more than one girl, one opportunity, and go for it. Don't go telling me, 'she just isn't my type,' when you haven't even tried." He stopped suddenly, a look of dawning crossing his face.

Cloud took a step back. "What? Why do you look like I just sacrificed your puppy?"

The ex-SOLDIER bit his lip tentatively. "You aren't into Aeris, right?" It took a minute for his lips to form the words. Before being stuck in the lab for five years, Zack knew he would have been nothing less than chaotic when confronting the idea that someone wanted Aeris. She was special, after all - she had been his first non-sexual encounter that lasted for more then two dates. Now he was just resigned. This was Cloud, an angel practically in disguise with the halo simply dimmed out of sight. The idea of Cloud falling for Aeris was much more comforting than if anyone else, like a Turk for example, fell in love with the green-eyed beauty.

_It's Cloud…_

"No! Of course not!" Cloud yelled as he walked closer to Zack, his feet hitting the ground rhythmically. "I can't just not be into anyone?"

One black eyebrow arched and Zack took on Cloud's pose of folding his arms across his body. "There's no way you're asexual. Come on, what really stirs those feelings up in your-"

Cloud cut him off. "No more. I want to know about… _this _-" The blond pulled up his shirt, pointing at a rather jagged scar that spanned his abdomen.

"Aren't we rushing a little? I haven't even bought you dinner yet," Zack joked, his eyes avoiding the pale stretch of skin below the tattered shirt. The truth was he didn't want to look. It stirred up feelings, scoping from misery to anger and made his stomach squirm like larva.

"This isn't funny."

"I know it isn't," he sighed, moving a hand back through his dirty spikes.

"Do you have them, or am I just special?" Cloud asked scathingly, eyes attempting to burn holes in the black-haired man's shirt.

Zack picked up the hem of his purple shirt, humoring the kid. Unlike the blond, he had fewer gashes but more needle pricks. He never even bothered to think of a reason why, more than Hojo being a psychopath.

Cloud pulled the shirt back into place, his eyes downcast. "So, how did we get them?"

_Be blunt as possible or lie?_

"Cloud, I think you should sit down."

The blond sat where he had previously stood and forced Zack to wriggle down to the ground. It was icy, he noticed with a faint chill, though not as cold as it would have been for others. Despite his SOLDIER benefits, the floor was still not pleasant.

Zack ran a hand through his hair, unsure of what would come next. "I… I really don't know."

**He can see right through you.**

"You're lying!" Cloud struggled to stand, ignoring Zack, who had reached out a hand. "Whatever it was it happened to you, too. Why can't you just tell me and spare us both the melodramatic bullshit? It isn't like I'm going to burst into tears whatever you say!" Cloud towered above him now, his mako blue eyes tunneling into the ex-SOLDIER's. "Just get it over with otherwise I don't know what I'll do…" the last was almost a plea, so unlike Cloud it jolted Zack to his senses.

Zack bent his head in shame. "Five -" he cut himself off, deliberately shaking his head as if to rid his skull of a demon with a needle and a maniacal grin. "Five years ago, when your hometown burned to the ground, we were both captured," he said slowly. "I don't know much... but they experimented on us…"

Zack could not stomach the idea of telling Cloud everything. Give him a basic understanding and leave out the details of who and why. Most importantly, he refused to admit how loud the screams of pain were. He looked away for a second to hide the shame in his eyes.

Cloud blinked, Zack noticed when he looked back at the boy. His face was cold, expressionless, and for a moment Zack did not know if Cloud was in shock or just hadn't heard. "I'm sorry, Cloudy." He gave a cheesy half-smile, pushing the boy's arm lightly. "We really shouldn't talk about these things. They take too much happiness out of our systems. You of all people don't need another jolt of that." Jokes and jibes were the few comforts Zack had in his arsenal. A trick his mother had taught him at a young age: It was much easier to fight off everything bad when you had a smile on your face.

"My ma used to tell me to never look down on a situation. She would be making dinner and tell me, 'You don't need to get upset every time somethin' bad happens. How would the world be if we could only see the bad? Put on a smile, doesn't matter if it's real or not, and don't let anything pull you under,' or some crap like that. Then she would yell at me for not washing under my fingernails."

Cloud cracked a small, withered smile. It reminded Zack of how flowers die, their petals falling mercilessly onto the ground and crushed down by the cold.

"Ah! See? Smile nice and bright. Then there were the night-time stories. Maybe one day I'll tell you some of those. I've got my favorite one on the tip of my tongue. Looks like the girls are coming back."

"Aeris, she's... she's nice," Cloud finished lamely.

Zack nodded. "She's really different. I don't know how to explain it, but -"

"She just has this aura that makes you think of a mother, someone who really cares about _ou_."

Zack grinned. "Yeah, you aren't the only one to feel that way. I wonder how she'd be with kids."

"Y-you want to have kids with her? It's that serious?"

Zack shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. She's amazing and I think I love her... Sometimes I get this feeling that I might not be completely right. Maybe I love her, but not enough? I don't know. I do know I do want kids."

Cloud bit his lip. "Well, I wish you luck, I guess." Cloud looked away. Zack thought it odd how quickly the conversation died. He turned to approach the women and a moment later he was pulling some of the load from their hands.

Zack rubbed the small 'X' scar with his fingers, wishing he understood why he couldn't completely devote himself to Aeris. Five years ago he would've had no issue with having sex with her, but since coming back with Cloud he was finding it difficult to touch her like he'd always dreamed. She was willing but his body wasn't responding. He looked down, eyes filled with malice. "Why can't you just work? Did Hojo experiment on you, too?" He shook his head miserably and looked up, muttering, "I really need to get laid."

His body twitched in agreement.

"Zack, what are you rambling about?" Aeris asked. She held two logs under her arms. They looked heavy, Zack noticed with a frown. He glanced up to see Cloud slugging it out with about a dozen more chunks of wood, nearly falling over his own feet.

"Nothin', toots," Zack yelled as he jumped from his perch, already taking off towards the blond. Much to his displeasure the boy had just fallen over a set of train tracks, the wood sprinkled in every direction. "Gaia, you're a klutz," Zack laughed as he reached out a hand for Cloud to grab. It was ignored.

Cloud rolled his eyes and got to his knees, picking up a few of the nearby pieces of wood. He tossed them over to Zack, who caught them deftly in his long fingers. "You trying to take out my eye?" Zack asked, fingers gripping what could have been a rather dangerous spike. "'Cause, you know, throwing sharp things isn't a good way to make friends."

"And it isn't nice to laugh at your friends either," Cloud said pointedly, collecting a few more pieces of rotting wood, "We should go." The formerly scattered pieces of wood were now safely lined up in their arms.

"Yeah."

* * *

The silence was piercing. Dark tendrils of smoke rose above their heads from the musky fire that didn't warm their bodies or spirits. Rather than burning the dress like Cloud wanted, they fashioned several small rags to be considered as blankets, giving two to the women, one for both Cloud and Zack. The purple material didn't do much but cover their skin from the chill. Zack knew they wouldn't stop for long, just enough time for their aching bodies to replenish their energy.

"What's going to happen to Sector Seven?" Tifa asked, pushing her foot against the side of the train. Aeris was huddled next to her, wrapped in a bit of the dress with a warm fire materia in her hands. "We can't just let everyone die!" Tifa exclaimed, slamming her boot against the side, the sound of cracking metal echoing.

"Of course not, we'll save them. We can't do it if you're half dead."

Cloud looked up from his rags. "You always did want to be the hero," he whispered before taking a look at the women, Tifa especially. She was nibbling her lip thoughtfully. He looked away into the flames.

"Hero…" the ex-SOLDIER gave a cold laugh, "I don't think heroes exist anymore."

"That isn't true." Aeris said carefully, her eyes glazed in the materia's light. "You're a hero, aren't you?"

"Not really." Zack shrugged, looking towards Cloud, who sat staring into the dim fire, lost in thought. He nudged the blond lightly, "What do you think? Am I cut out to be a hero?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "I always thought so."

"I don't know..." Zack responded, "Look, you guys take a nap. I'll be on lookout." Zack gave a mock salute as the three turned away. Cloud came over closer, though. Even with his majo poisoning cleared, it was an unconscious movement. _Cloud had a thing for falling asleep on me. He always li__stened to my heart. It soothes him. _

Zack looked from the boy's face to Aeris. She had turned around, her shimmering brown hair falling like waves. But, he looked back down to Cloud...

* * *

Zack's eyes were drooping. There was no more adrenaline in his veins. He was just there. Not even a monster had passed by with the hope of getting a tasty snack.

He was bored.

Cloud was still fast asleep, his head in Zack's lap. The ex-SOLDIER had begun to run his hands through Cloud's dirty blond hair just to keep himself awake. There was a spot on the boy's head, Zack found after a short while, that if touched would cause Cloud to practically purr. He moved the hair out of the way to find a small strawberry shaped birthmark. Cloud hated when people touched his head but this, _this_, was far too interesting to let go. Zack also noticed, after a moment's inspection, that the hair surrounding the spot was a little longer and darker.

"Aren't you a puzzle." The raven-haired man stroked the small mark on the boy's head, listening to the purring moan.

**It's already starting...**

A yawn came from where Aeris and Tifa slept.

It was Aeris, lightly shaking her head and groggily opening her eyes. "How long have I been out?" she asked, covering her mouth as she yawned. Her hair was matted with dirt and grime and a small streak of filth ran next to her nose. She trailed one hand through her long brown locks as the other rose high above her head, stretching.

Zack looked down at his watch, moving his hand from below the blond's head. "Uh, about two hours." He scrunched his nose tiredly. "We should get moving soon."

Aeris shook her head tiredly. "No, silly. You're going to sleep." She got onto her knees and pushed her blanket piece to Zack. "Come on, we have time. You need to sleep. That man said we had until seven tomorrow night to get there. It's about eleven at night now, so just sleep. I'll be lookout for a little while. You need to rest or you're going to be useless when we need you the most." She began braiding her hair, a few thick strands falling into her face.

Zack sighed, took the dirt-crusted blanket and put it onto the floor for a pillow. He moved Cloud to the ground, pulling him closer once he lay on the floor, uncomfortably. He noticed the blond's head fit almost perfectly into the crook of his shoulder. "You're right. I need some sleep. I don't need to fall on my face later on." He yawned.

"He looks fragile." She lifted her fingers up, seemingly to reach for Cloud, though they fell to back. She looked broken for a moment.

"He's stronger than he looks." Zack smiled at Cloud before looking back to Aeris. "What's wrong?" he asked, moving his head to the side.

Aeris sighed. "Something in my stomach tells me we need to be careful with him. I don't know why, but I can hear it pounding like a restless drum. I can't understand it, nor do I wish to," she said this with uncertainty, biting her lip. "It makes me feel…"

"Broken," Zack answered. He didn't need Aeris' confirmation. He knew they felt the same way.

* * *

The troop walked in an uncomfortable silence. Their order of standing was odd: Aeris took to walking close to Zack, between him and Cloud, while Tifa stood near Cloud, shooting off secretive glances every so often. It stayed like that for an hour, glance around and take a few steps, then glance around and take another few steps. They never met one another's eyes, nor did they need to.

Zack noticed not too long after they began their walk that several of the cars were still housing various amounts of electricity. The lights pulsed on and off. An engine in one of the conductor cars tried to start up, screeching rabidly like a wild animal. They could see the glitter of the mako pounding below their feet; traces of it surrounded their nostrils. Green gas danced above their heads. On one rare occasion of conversation, Aeris pointed this out.

"It's the mako pollution," he answered, making her look up in wonder.

"But it's so pretty," Aeris sighed, playing with the metal adorning her wrist. Next to her Cloud shrugged, never moving his gaze from the path.

Zack looked up again once more before stopping. The rest jolted to a standstill. Tifa snapped her eyes from Cloud to Zack questioningly. "Hmm, you say something?" she asked, her brown eyes going from face to face though they avoided Cloud's eyes.

"Just mako pollution," Zack stated again, looking around. "New pollution at that."

"But how can you tell?" Cloud questioned, looking up at the mingling gases. "I mean, it looks exactly the same as all other mako pollution."

Zack enthusiastically shook his head, raven spikes bouncing. He looked like a child presented with candy. "No, it isn't the same! That stuff's new because it still holds the slightest trace of engine oil. If it had been there for more than a few hours it would have lost that smell by now." He rushed forward, jumping into a train car. His fingers toyed with the pad on the conductor's station.

"Zack, don't play with that." Aeris ran closer as a noxious slew of oil gushed from the train's pipes. "You're going to do something really bad! You don't know how to drive that thing!" She attempted to climb into the car, but fell to her knees in a huff.

"I'm Gongagan - I can make a shoe drive!" he yelled. "All I did was push the button and it worked." Slowly he moved the car to a stop, pulling on the break. The smile across his face seemed to brighten the Train Graveyard. "I got it to move enough so we can squeeze through. See?" He jumped out, helped Aeris up and pointed to the small walkway he created. "The mako is coming from over there. That's where we need to go."

Cloud looked into the sky dubiously. "Yeah, and I own a chocobo named Duck that can fly, Zack."

The man smirked. "Oh, Cloud, I need to get you a flying chocobo..." Clapping his hands decisively, Zack walked into the small crevice. He stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth.

"Bite me."

"Suit yourself. Come on girlies, let's go kick some Shinra ass. Sector Seven's just off this-" his voice dropped a few octaves. In front of his eyes were unmarked gravestones; some were pieces of wood stuck into the ground, others were a piece of rock over where the head had once rested, before worms began their feast upon their eyes. "Shit."

Cloud jumped back, disturbed. "Here? Who would want to be buried _here?"_

Aeris was the first to follow Zack past the train car and into the graveyard. Zack noticed that her fingers were slick with sweat and her brow was creased, almost as if she had a headache she could not get rid of. "These people," she said, kneeling down, "many of them had families. Women left alone to raise children, parents waiting for letters from their sons, girlfriends pregnant and alone." She bit down on her lip as she touched one of the rocks.

"Okay, no more of that." Zack knelt, touching the woman's arm gently. "You shouldn't do this to yourself. You're too perceptive or nuts for your own good." He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Aeris' forehead.

She laughed, standing up shakily. "Zackary, you're a force to be reckoned with."

Cloud and Tifa walked into the small makeshift graveyard at that moment. Cloud sucked in a breath.

"You alright?" Aeris asked, wiping her face with her hand.

He didn't respond.

"Hey, Gaia to Cloudy! The lights on and computers running up there?" Zack walked forward, dropping his hand from Aeris's shoulder, snapping his fingers wildly in front of Cloud's face. The ex-SOLDIER even knekt down, waving his hands in front of the vacant boy's face. "You alive? Aeris, come look at him," he said, waving her forward, "he isn't responding."

The woman knelt to grasp the boy's face. He suddenly jerked away, writhing at her touch. "Okay..." Zack mumbled, kicking a nearby headstone.

"Be respectful to the dead," Aeris said harshly. She glared as she nursed her hand.

Cloud shook his head, looking at the three. "Sorry, kinda-"

Zack cut him off. "Had a blackout in your brain? Don't worry 'bout it; we all get that a bit. You alright, toots? Looks like your hand's hurt."

Aeris shook her head quickly, her voice a bit high when she responded. "Oh, I'm fine. Of course, we should get going about now." She pointed toward another opening a few yards away where a broken piece of metal twisted into a bridge. "We can climb up it and then we'll be at the Sector Seven-"

Her voice was cut off by a high-pitched whirring. "What in the heavens is that?" she yelled and they all covered their ears as they heard gunfire and screeching tires.

"Shit." Zack looked at his watch. "It's only three thirty in the morning! They can't be dropping it now."

"Well, I think they are," Cloud stated grimly, shaking Tifa out of her stupor. Her eyes were round and her hand was shaking over her mouth.

"They're all sleeping." Tifa's voice shook.

"Then we'd better go wake them up!"

* * *

The area around the plate's pillar was in shambles: People woken by the noise running anywhere their feet took them; men and women pointing rifles at the Shinra soldiers surrounding the pillar; children crying for their parents.

"Ah!" Aeris screamed as a body fell from above, landing next to them. Blood splashed across their faces.

"Shit! Wedge." Zack knelt down, reaching for the man's mutilated arm. It reminded him of an undercooked sausage, the insides showing when he knew they weren't meant to. He knew there wasn't a pulse, so he shook his head.

Tifa vomited and dropped to her knees next to Wedge's corpse. Aeris knelt beside her, rubbing circles on the woman's back. After a moment Tifa got shakily to her feet, not even sparing another glance at the body of her friend. "Aeris," she wiped her nose, pulling the jacket off, handing it to the woman, "there's a little girl named Marlene in a bar named Seventh Heaven down the street. Take her somewhere safe?"

Aeris was nodding as Tifa talked. She planted her rod into the ground, shrugging her jacket back onto her shoulders. "Don't even worry. Go save the pillar and I'll handle everything else." Her smile was bright, but it didn't match her eyes. The blood streak on her face was stark on pale skin.

"Be careful," Zack called as she ran off into the distance. She didn't turn back.

Zack glanced to Tifa then Cloud, pulling his Buster Sword from his back. "Let's get moving. I hear a lot of gun fire up there. Probably Barret."

Tifa pulled her gloves unconsciously tighter. The blond had already unsheathed his sword, pointing it to the ground to prevent accidental impalement of one of the people running around. Cloud looked slightly queasy, his face a pale shade of green. The tip of the katana made small scrapes into the dirt.

"I don't think everyone is gonna be able to get away before this thing falls."

"Don't talk like that!" Tifa yelled, swinging her fist into her other hand.

The black-haired man shrugged before pushing his way past hordes of people to the gated area.

* * *

Zack's fingers were soaked with blood. It was a dull realization as he pushed the last member of the platoon across the bars and down to the earth below. He looked down and for a moment noticed he was stained with red, the blood dripping from his sword. He swung the Buster in a short arc, congealing blood flying off the blade.

Biggs was sprawled across the banister, his ribs poking out from his shirt, several bullet holes riddling his body. He'd been repeating the same words over and over again. There was nothing Zack could do to ease his pain; the Cure hadn't worked...

"Jessie," Biggs whispered one last time, reaching above, searching for a hand he expected to be there. After a grueling moment Biggs's hand fell limp at his side, eyes glazed with tears unshed. They would never be shed, Zack realized.

Cloud was the one to close those staring eyes. In the heat of the battle, bullets still whizzing by their heads, Cloud took the time to pull down his companion's lids. The gesture made Zack smile with bittersweet emotion.

"Come on, we're almost to the top," Tifa announced, not even looking up. These were the people she had known for longer than two weeks and Zack knew there was a moment of grief for every person, every cold corpse they passed that had a face and a name. He'd already counted twenty two of their own. Tifa would mourn them all.

"Don't do anything rash," a voice stated from above, one immaculate black shoe and a blue suit leg peaking out. Zack noticed her immediately. Her hair was up in a bun, face void of any expression. Zack realized she refused to look at the corpse on the landing. "He didn't give me a choice."

Tifa choked and tried to say something, but nothing came out. She settled for staring angrily at the Turk.

"Don't give me that look," the woman said, cocking the gun. "I didn't want this any more than you would have-"

"But you're doing it!" Cloud yelled. "You killed your friend! He did nothing but care for you!" When he took a step forward to lunge at her. Zack grabbed him under the armpits with one hand, holding the Buster with the other. "Why?"

"Because," she pointed the barrel at Cloud, who went limp, "my sister is more important. More important than the Planet, more important than AVALANCHE, more important-" she choked.

"More important than Biggs, who would have - no, _gave_ - his life to you? He would have kissed the ground you walked on if you'd only said so!" Tifa blurted, pointing her finger at Biggs's body. It was already going cold.

The gun shook. "No." She bit her lip, compulsively smoothing her blue suit.

"Yes," Cloud muttered, his hands touching Zack's. His hands slithered around Zack's bicep, nails biting into his skin. "He had a sister too, but he never betrayed you."

She closed her eyes, a small tear leaking onto her cold blue suit. "Start walking up the stairs, terrorists..." She cringed at the words.

"You were the last person I expected to do this," Zack admitted. He walked with Cloud.

"Me too," Jessie answered.

* * *

**Please Review!**


	7. Interlude One: Scream

**Edited 02/04/2012**

* * *

Interlude One: Scream

The chains of the world were unsettling, binding tighter than any rope. It was a weight that crippled, forcing people to their knees, screaming in utter agony. Their blood washed against the ground, cascading in waves of desperation, begging for a tinge, a morsel, of pity. Their fingers grasped for nothing- for everything. Their nails dug into whatever they could reach.

Bones littered the ground: The skulls of children piked on sticks, morbid guards placed to watch over the deceased. Rivers of boiled and steaming flesh flew into the horizon behind the Children of Dissolution, reminding all that this world of death and dissection was nothing more than the most terrible horrors of the land.

Trees hung in the red tinged light, decaying corpses dangling from the branches, their fingers still fighting to loosen the noose. Even though their fingers were merely bones and their necks were ravaged by the flies zooming around their heads like vultures would their prey, they fought for freedom. Freedom from a world where the water turned to corroding acid in their mouths, where feelings of anything other than pain were excluded and hidden deep below the surface of their sickly skin. Freedom from a place where everything turned to maggots spreading plagues before their noses, in their throats; small fetuses digging their way out of their mother's stomachs with their teeth; intestines spewed across the wastelands. Freedom to scream as animals ripped limbs off men; needles buried in the crust of the earth and snapping off into unsuspecting feet trudging forward to escape from the bitter end.

Yet in the very center she stood clad in her white lab coat, ignorant of the screams of the children dying next to her feet, the monster mutilating a wife as the husband looked on. She watched his throat being slashed by the man with a scalpel, sharp and sure, tracing patterns into his skin with delight. Ignorant, but beautiful, smiling lightly as her hand caressed her protruding belly; a dog snapping its mouth shut against a hand of an infant, groping for the woman's skirt. She looked forward, smiling wider.

She reached out one hand in a comforting gesture, making the motion to come forward, to step over the horror and into the light. The skin of her hand was smooth, flawless, the color of milk.

And he reached for her. Walking forward, unable to see anything but the radiance of her smile, the caressing hand on her stomach, the smooth ripple of life in her deep eyes, he passed by the hordes of guns and puddles of blood, the rain of acid and the blowing stench of napalm and feces. He couldn't look away from her smiling form, not to notice his feet smashing into a skull with brown hair and the sound of snapping vertebrae. His fingers, so large compared to her own, met. He reached up, touching her hair, feeling the texture of the smooth tresses of deep brown and then…

It would scream, a long and piercing and chilling to the bone scream that shattered the cold silence. He would look down; his shoes stained with blood, her hand still caressing her stomach, though a hand of razors stuck out from her belly, blood coating her once white coat. She would take one of his hands and murmur, placing it on her stomach, letting him feel the bones snap inside of her, the claw shredding her stomach, the blood coating both their fingers with warm liquid. The smile didn't even fade from her lips.

As the monster with white hands dug itself out, she moved one hand to touch his face. Maroon stained the lips she traced with the tip of her index finger. The taste of copper entered his mouth. He cringed. Smooth as death, sharp as nails.

It fell to the ground between their feet and she would let go of the man, bending down to collect her child. It writhed and squirmed away, sucking on its blood-coated fingers as an infant would suck on their mother's breast. It crawled into a puddle of urine, bathing in the stink, its tongue still lapping away the last traces of blood.

She fell to her knees, reaching out for the monster, begging it to come forward, to drink the flowing milk of her breast. To not be afraid.

The tidal wave of destruction would sweep in at that moment, pulling the blood away. The hanged people would disappear and the trees would evaporate into nothing. The red sky would degrade into twisting serpentine tornadoes, clashing against one another, lifting the monsters and the screaming men. The Children of Dissolution would be sucked off their pikes, heading up, up, up into the black clouds.

He saw its eyes - bright green eyes - filled with disparity before they were flushed out of existence.

She laid on the floor, gasping for breath, blood seeping out like the River of Time. She screamed, flailing for the child, the monster, the infant, the death of life.

"I never even got to hold him. Not once."

* * *

His eyes flew open to meet the cold surface of rotting satin. The dream never changed. It continued on and on, the same smells, same feelings corrupting him. The fire in his heart died long before and the screams subsided.

Her face, flawless, burned his eyes. He shut them again. To dream was all he had left, to contain the ache, to relive the horror only to be met with the red satin lining when he awoke. The same scene would replay again.

And again.

And again.

It was a punishment, atonement for sins unpaid.

Freedom was lost within the depths of the Mansion of Despair.

* * *

**Please Review!**


	8. Betray

**Edited 05/24/2012**

* * *

Chapter Six: Betray

"So how long've you been screwing us over?" Tifa asked, the bitterness of her voice melting into the air. They were getting closer to the top of the structure. Noise from above was ear-splitting and Tifa nearly had to scream her question over the commotion.

Jessie answered in the same cold tone she had used when the three AVALANCHE members crossed her path. "For about six months, give or take."

Zack kept walking, mind zooming with thoughts. The first attack on Shinra, the Sector One Mako Reactor... how?

"Why didn't you know the code to get us out if you were already with Shinra?" Cloud asked before Zack was given the chance. "Why would Shinra waste so much money on making you a Turk if they planned on you dying?"

"Because the boss wanted to test me, to see if I was worthy of staying. I needed to pass his test," she answered half-heartedly.

It didn't take more than a moment to understand exactly who Jessie had called 'boss.'

"Whoa, wait a second - are you saying Tseng let Reno teach you? He's the only person who could possibly think of something as absolutely stupid as that." She lifted her gun again and Zack held up his hands. He'd been forced to sheath his Buster earlier. "Yeah, yeah, got it. No more talking." He hesitated putting his hands back down, wondering if she would notice if his fingers wavered for just a moment; if she would notice if he reached down for the hilt of his sword; if she would notice if he pulled the weapon out and shoved it through her pretty new blue suit…

"Don't even think about it. Put your hands down and keep walking. I'm not sure if Boss has put a timer on the structure or what." Jessie made a small sound as she tucked the gun away.

Zack looked down between his feet through the weathered steel. Even with his perfect vision the people near the base of the stairway were pinpricks. _Indescribable blobs of nothing_, Zack thought. It reminded him of the small air bubbles in the mako tank, drowning him and keeping him alive even when he wanted nothing more than to die. It was worse when Cloud screamed because he knew his friend was feet away and he could do nothing.

Those small people at the bottom knew they could do nothing.

* * *

Barret was bleeding from his head, lying lifeless on the ground near the stairway. It was superficial but the blood flowed unobstructed. His eyes were closed and Zack wondered how long he had been unconscious and how long it would take for him to wake.

"Yeah, he's been out for 'bout five minutes. Can't say I'm not glad. Was givin' me a headache with all of his 'AVALANCHE is amazin' an' 'I'm gunna put a bullet in yur ass you motha fucka' business. I think he's a bit more annoyin' than me, don't you think?" Reno said, pulling the tell-tale cigarette from his mouth, throwing it over the side of the structure. He jerked his head to the side. "Hope that doesn't land on someone's head." He was sitting on the metal grates, feet hanging over the side.

"But that won't matter in a minute." Jessie looked at the center beam. "Have you set it?"

The red-head tossed his head. "Nuh-uh, I'm tired an' don't wanna deal with none of this. There's a big bottle of vodka waitin' for me at home and there's nothing I wanna do more than get this shit done and get on over there. Need ta get laid too, but that ain't new, now is it Zack?"

Zack looked over to Cloud, then Tifa. "Seems just like you. Now, I think there might be some type of mistake. See, Jessie here," Zack looked at the woman then back to the older Turk, "wanted us up here and I really don't know _why_. If you could get this straightened out maybe we can come to some kind of resolution that doesn't deal with dropping the plate and killing about _half a million people_. How 'bout that?"

Reno pulled himself up with one hand, the other reaching for his electrical magnetic rod. "No can do. Normally I'd be fine with it, but not today. Got a new recruit, a freshie. Can't be showin' her that we Turks aren't as hardass as it said in the job application." He ruffled his hair mechanically. "So, we can't be takin' no turns and makin' anything easy, like lettin' ya go…"

"Well, thanks for nothing!"

"Aw, pup, don' give me that. You know I don't like doin' this to ya, but an order's an order. Tseng gave it to me an' you know I can't get into no more trouble. Don't wanna lose my job. Takes away the perks-"

"What, killing, raping, stealing?" Tifa exclaimed.

Reno snorted. "Sure, killin' and stealin', but I'm too damn sexy to need to rape anyone. Me, a rapist? Not right, girl, not right at all."

Cloud glanced at Reno and shrugged. "I wouldn't put it past you."

Reno's green eyes narrowed and he spat onto the ground. "Well, why don't you ask your buddy here if he considered it rape."

Zack winced and shriveled his nose in distaste. "Shut up."

"What's he talking about, Zack?"

"Whad'ya think I'm talking 'bout, Blondie?"

"Don't tell him to shut up, you stupid Turk!"

"Can we just finish our assignment and get out of here?"

A loud screech silenced them.

"What in Gaia's name…?" Zack questioned, looking around, searching for where the sound was coming from. Cloud covered his ears and Tifa ran over to Barret to wake him.

"We better take care of this now and fast," Jessie said. She pulled out her silver gun and took aim at Cloud. In a blink, the ex-SOLDIER whizzed past the woman, his weapon at the ready. With his body between the blond and the two Turks, Zack took a moment to look around.

Reno snorted. "Ooh, bad choice, babe. I thought we were all gunna get out of here without a scratch, but you just had to go and fuck that up for me! Can't you just come quietly? I'll make sure your cell has porn and I'll visit you often." The red-haired Turk tapped his EMR against his dirty blue pants. The smirk apparent on his face made Zack queasy.

"Sorry, there's no room when you're locked in a tube," he spat. He lunged at the Turk, Buster Sword sending the gun in Jessie's hand spiraling away.

"Well, it's good to know you've still got it," Reno cried, jumping into the air, avoiding the other Turk as she dived for her gun.

"Got it? Please! I never lost it," Zack retorted, readying the next attack.

Reno never had been a hard opponent physically, but he sure was fast, zipping and spinning, weaving between Zack and Cloud's swords and Tifa's fists. Zack hadn't felt so exhilarated since his last fight with Sephiroth. Granted, that hadn't gone too well but it gave him the same feeling of pure excitement. He didn't even fear for his life - Reno wouldn't kill him.

The real worry was that Jessie _would;_ but with her gun sitting at the bottom of the pillar it didn't seem likely. Evidently Shinra had gotten lazy with their newest members, not properly teaching them hand-to-hand combat.

Zack avoided a sly smack to the face from Reno's EMR, rolling across the floor. He lifted his Buster Sword in time to reflect another hit, giving Cloud an opening to slash at the red-head.

A few feet away Tifa laid another blow to Jessie. The latter could do little but attempt to block each angry fist or kick to the stomach. There was already blood congealing on the floor around the two. Jessie gave a weak whimper as she was hit in the face with the other woman's steel-toed boot.

"You bitch!" Tifa yelled, jabbing the Turk in the stomach with her elbow.

"Don't kill her!" Cloud yelled over the commotion, pulling out a small green orb from the hilt of his katana. He concentrated for a moment and a green steam arose around Jessie. "There. She's asleep."

Zack was having a little more trouble.

"Can't you just give up?" Reno asked, dodging a swing from the Buster Sword.

Zack replied with another slash.

* * *

It was a cheap shot and only incapacitated him for a moment, but it was long enough to knock Zack across the floor and keep him there while Reno pressed a big red button.

"Well, looks like we're outta time, folks." Reno smirked. "It'll go off if any pin-head touches it, so I think it would be best for us to get outta here. Ready, Jessie?"

She was still covered in blood and looked as though she was about to fall onto her face. None of that mattered to Zack when the helicopter came up from behind her with Tseng standing at the opening. The machine was within jumping distance, the space decreasing by the second until it was almost against the railing.

"Yeah, I'm ready... Just need-" she lunged at Cloud, sending his weapon skidding across the floor, "this brat."

Zack jerked his head to the side, eyes widening. "That's why you wanted us to come up here? So you could get me and Cloud?"

Reno scuffed his shoe on the ground, tossing a gun that Zack hadn't even noticed to Jessie. "Only partially right. Sad to disappoint but you ain't coming with us. The Prez doesn't want you."

Jessie had the gun aimed at Cloud's temple; even with her eyes crazed and browning blood coming in cascades from her nostrils she looked foreboding. "Come on, move it," she whispered to Cloud, her blood dripping into the blond's already dirty hair.

"Fuck that!" Zack dropped his Buster Sword in rage and decided that yes, he would feel much better if he could wrap his fingers around her throat and squeeze.

A gun going off was the last thing the ex-SOLDIER expected. The blood bloomed from his shoulder and he dropped to his knees, groaning in pain. Tifa and Cloud yelled and Barret twitched in his sleep, his eyes blearily opening. When Zack gritted his teeth and reached for the bullet wound he was met with another surprise. The gun in Jessie's hand was still pointed at Cloud's skull.

"Didn't want ta do that but you didn't leave me much of a choice, babe," Reno said solemnly. The wounded ex-SOLDIER turned around to see a glistening gun shining in the red-head's palm, one finger still on the trigger. "Jessie!" he barked, pointing the barrel of the gun to the helicopter. "Get the kid on the copter, now."

The other Turk began pulling Cloud backward, grabbing hold of the side rail and yanking them both in. Tseng nodded at her.

Zack restrained himself from screaming.

Reno pocketed the gun, walking closer to Zack until the black-haired man could smell the perspiration and stale booze on his breath. The red-head leaned down near his ear and whispered, "I didn't, did I? We had fun wit' your pretty ass in the air. Just remember that; I fucked you," Reno huskily whispered in his ear, trailing his fingertips down to the bullet hole, plunging his fingers in. Zack groaned in pain. "An' you loved it."

Zack turned himself away, the warm breath still on his face.

"Naw, didn't expect so. Maybe you'll play hero with blondie and the girl?" Reno laid two of his fingers on the bleeding wound for a moment before pulling them away and straightening.

"'The girl?'" Zack asked, giving the Turk a confused look. His shoulder was on fire, but that wasn't the only thing that Zack had to worry about. "What gi-"

_She smiled at him wearily. "Oh, I'm just 'the girl' they've been chasing around. I would rather them leave me be, but... it could be worse. Tseng's not so bad."_

Reno put his blood-soaked fingers to his lips, suckling like a newborn. "Mmm, the same," he answered after a moment before climbing into the helicopter, whispering a few words to Tseng as he passed. "Oh." He turned and yelled, "We'll treat chocobo-head here like a part of the family." Reno laughed, attaching his EMR to his leather belt.

"Same goes for our other guest," Tseng added, moving slightly so Zack could see Aeris laying on the ground, her hands bound in front of her with a few tears falling from her eyes.

Tifa screamed the woman's name and tried to make her legs work, but she was just as glued to the ground as Zack. Barret stirred, beginning to regain consciousness.

Aeris's voice was slightly hoarse when she yelled, "She's safe, don't worry-" and that was all they heard before Tseng stepped in front of her, muffling the sounds.

Zack noticed that she smacked her bound fists into the man's leg, attempting to trip him, and he turned with a vengeance. His open hand collided with her face, sending her head swinging, green eyes widening. When he turned to Zack and the others again he said, "I suggest you don't attempt a rescue either. But.. which you would choose? Hmm?"

With those last words, Tseng gave a small, withering smirk, reaching over and slamming the helicopter door shut.

"Shi'!" Barret yelled, firing at the retreating helicopter, a few small droplets of spittle flying out of his mouth as fast as the bullets were leaving his grafted arm.

"Quit shooting at them! You're going to hurt Aeris and Cloud!" Tifa banged her arms heavily against the black man, attempting to make his gun-arm drop.

"Fuck em-"

Zack did not allow the man to finish his sentence, standing up, ignoring the pain, and grabbing him by the throat. "No, fuck _you_," he began, putting enormous pressure on Barret's jugular. "They're the only damn things I have, so you put that _fucking_ gun on lock or I swear I'll..." Zack took a deep breath in and released the man, looking over at the helicopter gliding away, the machine barely noticeable within the deep clouds of smoke and ash.

"You do what? Hurt me? It don' matter. She's gone." Barret shot a few more times at the quickly disappearing helicopter. "_Gone_!"

It was Tifa who dealt the next blow. "Not now! We have to get out of here before it falls-" her statement was accentuated by the structure giving a large moan as the steel began to twist.

Zack took one last look over where the helicopter had taken off. Nothing was visible, not even when he looked down between his feet. From the corner of his eyes he spotted two weapons even through the dense smoke was clotting his lungs. Ignoring his stinging throat and the blood pouring from his gunshot wound, Zack grabbed both quickly, sheathing his own and holding Cloud's katana before rounding on Barret, holding the sword out threateningly. "Well, Bossman, you've got two second to pull yourself together while I find a way out of here."

Barret grumbled something, switching the safety on his gun.

"Good boy." Zack jerked his head to the side, barely noticing how his teeth were clenched painfully or how his hand was shaking slightly. His eyes darted around, seeking an escape route. Something to get them into another Sector as quickly as possible-

"Found it!" He ran over to a large hook connected to the upper plate swinging back and forth a few feet away. Zack jumped onto the railing, pulling at the object with one hand, making sure the thing would be able to hold enough weight. It did, and with Cloud's sword he motioned towards the others. "Hurry it up! We've only got a few more seconds."

Tifa looked around, her face communicating her emotions.

Zack shook his head. "We've gotta save ourselves. There's nothing we can do."

Not a second later, as the plate began to give its final heave, Zack had his thighs wrapped around the hook while Tifa was sitting on his lap and Barret held onto the metal wire. They were swept away with the dust by the last breath of Sector Seven. Something rang in Zack's head, loud and screeching, dying.

Seraphina screamed as everything collapsed.

Her white wings turned to dust.

* * *

They were in Sector Six's park with a few other refugees, mainly children from the distorted rubble of Sector Seven. A young girl near the flaming-hot entrance of Sector Seven was screaming, beating her hands against the ground. Nearby, three children covered in grime and dust cried together. By the slide, a pregnant woman sat, cradling her stomach in her hands. A few minor scratches were on her face though her hands were stained in blood.

Tifa sank to her knees, her sobs intertwining with the children's. "W-Why?" she cried, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip. Barret went to his knees beside her, mumbling, "Marlene," under his breath.

Something clicked in Zack's head as he surveyed the damage. "She said '_Don't worry, she's okay,'_" he said pointedly.

Tifa's puffy eyes looked up into violet ones. "Marlene."

Zack nodded. "Yeah, I think she's alright."

Barret leaned against Tifa. Zack noted the tear tracks through his grimy face, inching down toward his beard. "She's awright?" he said, disbelieving. Then, "She's awright, she's awright," he repeated over and over again.

Zack drew himself away, surveying the crying children in the corner. The pregnant woman, who really couldn't be considered a woman but perhaps a teenager, was staring at the children too. Zack put on a small smile and walked over.

The girl drew back, brown eyes large. "Y-Yes?" she squeaked, one hand protectively covering her stomach. Zack noticed the fear she was radiating, mainly as her eyes encountered his own, mako shining ones and when she saw both twinkling swords covered in drying blood.

The ex-SOLDIER got onto one of his knees carefully and slowly so as not to scare the teenager. He also put Cloud's sword on the ground, pointed away from the girl. She noticed and visibly relaxed.

"Hi." Zack gave a sheepish smile. "I'm Zack. You alright?"

She rubbed her bloody hands on her dirty shirt, looking toward the children. "I'm fine," her tired voice stated.

"Well, that's good. What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

The blood smeared against her greenish grey shirt, not making her hands any cleaner. "Ana."

Zack gave another encouraging smile. "Well, Ana, I saw that you were looking over at those kids. Do you know any of them?"

She shook her head 'no.' Her hair fell into her eyes when she said, "No, I don't."

"Well, do you think you can help me get them together?"

Ana's head shot up, eyes wide with puzzlement. "Why?" she asked suspiciously.

The child near the hot entrance tried grabbing the steel debris and digging her way back in, but only burned her hands in the process. Tifa noticed this and sent a wave of green washing over the girl. Barret was still staring at the ground, mumbling.

"I actually need your help," the ex-SOLDIER started, looking at the screaming and wailing children. Not all had made it and a few bodies, unmoving, stared up with glassy eyes, searching for the sky. It was the valley of dolls, of small corpses. "I know someone, a nice lady, who I think will be able to help. It's just, I need to talk to her and she doesn't like me that much." _I have a feeling that if I bring you with me she might not exactly want to lay me down on the table and stab me with dinner knives, _Zack omitted, fearing it wouldn't be the best thing to say at that very moment.

Ana looked at the sobbing children and nodded. "I-I understand. But did you see the woman who helped me here? I want to thank her."

Zack looked for a woman, a living woman, but saw none. "I, uh, don't think she's here. Not anymore at least. Maybe she went somewhere?" He shrugged and gave another soft smile. "But you'll come with me, right?"

"Uh, sure." Ana rubbed her stomach again and got up, wobbling.

"Good to know."

* * *

It was a fool-proof idea. Zack already knew where Cloud and Aeris had been taken, but he knew there was no way of understanding _why_, or getting Tifa and Barret to come with him for that matter, if he didn't speak to Elmyra. The woman loathed him but he needed to tell her about Aeris's kidnapping. With half a dozen children (all that the young, pregnant Ana could get to follow her; the others had refused to believe their families were gone) flanking the members of AVALANCHE, Zack felt more protected against Elmyra's fury.

Zack knew Elmyra wouldn't refuse the children. Aeris had been an orphan, the ex-SOLDIER knew as much, but there had been time and time again where she would mention her mother taking in a child until they were ready to go in search of their family which sometimes meant leaving Midgar for good. There was no issue with money as Shinra constantly sent her checks for her husband's previous military service. As far as Zack figured there was no reason for Elmyra to deny the children.

They traveled through Sector Six. Zack, Tifa and Barret cleared the way for the small children.

Through the entire walk Zack couldn't think of anything but Cloud. Why had the Turks taken him? He had, too, been experimented on. There was no visible explanation as to _why_ Reno had specific orders to only take one when he could have clearly taken both. Bits of memories reminded the black-haired man that it wasn't Cloud who was the 'good' experiment, as Hojo had put it. Why would they want the failure? Shouldn't that have been enough to keep them away, give them a reason to chase after Zack instead?

It made no sense. It merely added to the confusion of his mind and it had been far too cluttered up there to being with.

After an hour or so, his was body numb, though he still carried Cloud's sword in one hand. Tifa called a break so a few of the children could sit as she and some of the older girls went in search for water. In a huff, Zack threw himself to the ground, impaling the dry earth with his sword. Barret grunted, "Show off," but dropped his own bulking weight beside the ex-SOLDIER. They sat there in silence, Zack cleaning the Buster Sword with the hem of his shirt while a few small boys looked admiringly at the weapon.

"So," Barret skimmed his gaze over the Buster Sword, two coal eyes searching the designs, "where'd ya get that? It ain't no normal sword. Noticed that the momen' I saw it."

Zack rubbed harder at the sword, the blood coming off like chips of dried paint, flicking onto his lap. "I got it from an old friend of mine. He, uh, he was a SOLDIER First Class like me. Angeal." Memories rose from Zack's mind: fighting, screams, a mother lying dead, betrayal as thick as the concrete pillar that had once held Sector Seven's plate. He had trusted Angeal, thought of the man as a friend, and everything had fallen to ashes. Even now he still loved the man like a brother.

That was the way many things seemed to go. They just fell apart at the seams, the ribbon frayed, cloth unfurling.

Barret snorted. "You and SOLDIERs. Don't understand why there's so damn many of ya. I mean, who wants ta be a SOLDIER wit' all them Shinra? Shinra's the scum of Gaia. No way in Gaia I'd wanna be parta that!"

Zack shrugged. "A lot of people do, if you want the truth. I wasn't exactly in SOLDIER to be a Shinra. I was in SOLDIER to be a hero. We did a lot of good things back then. I still think they do some good, too."

"Well, what happened to this Angeal punk?"

"He died." One drop of dried blood refused to come off. Zack scrubbed harder.

Barret scratched at his chin. "Uh, sorry," the burly man said, "but you haven't mentioned who made that sword. Had to have been someone big."

Zack nodded. "His father made this, said that it was the pride of the family. Couldn't blame him either. It's beautiful, don't ya think?" Zack swung the blade into the light, the dim rays bouncing off in an array of colors. After a moment, he put the sword back down into his lap. "Did Tifa tell you?"

Barret made a peculiar sound, much like a growl. "'Bout Jessie?"

Zack coughed into his hand. "Uh yeah, 'bout that."

"Never thought she'd be the one to do it," the older man explained, looking over at the children. "I met her a while back, knew that she was a good girl. Loved her family, loved AVALANCHE, loved the Planet. Her papa died when she was younger 'cause of the Shinra an' ever since she hated 'em. She was one of the first people in AVALANCHE I met after I was inducted."

Zack gave the man a confused look; Barret hadn't been the founder? "I thought you were the one to come up with AVALANCHE. I was around when you guys first started, mainly little things. Never thought it was anyone but you. Back then, I was a SOLDIER Third and didn't get all the info."

Barret shook his head. "Naw, wasn't the one to come up with it," he stopped speaking for a moment before continuing, "wish I did though. Still, Jessie a traitor. Can't believe it. Makes me sick." To prove it, Barret spat into the brown dirt. "So, how's your shoulder? Gettin' shot ain't fun."

It hadn't bothered him for a while, Zack thought after a moment, feeling at his shoulder. The shirt was frayed at the edges where the bullet went in, but there was no pain. It wasn't right.

"Doesn't hurt," Zack muttered, tugging at the neck, looking over to his shoulder. When he saw nothing the ex-SOLDIER poked his finger into the hole, making Barret wince with the thought. "Hmm, it doesn't seem like it's there."

"Huh, Spiky? Bullet holes jus' don't disappear. You sure?"

To prove the point, Zack tore the shirt at the shoulder and showed the older man. "It isn't there. Doesn't even have a scar." He prodded at the unblemished skin in confusion. "It's the mako." The mako was always good at getting rid of wounds, but from what Zack remembered of it, bullet wounds still needed to leave the body. Still, it wasn't worth the extra thought. Not right now, anyway.

"Well, Spiky, you're fuckin' weird. You know that, right?"

Zack rolled his violet eyes. "Kinda figured that out. Bossman, weirder shit's happened."

* * *

Elmyra still had that sour look upon her face but at least she wasn't yelling. Even with her eyes red and puffy, much like Tifa's, a box of tissues wadded up on the kitchen table, the woman still was able to get the children to sleep upstairs, pulling out extra blankets from seemingly nowhere.

Marlene was situated on Barret's lap eating a few cookies, a milk mustache adorning her upper lip. The gruff man smiled repeatedly as the little girl hummed her tune, occasionally looking up to stare contemplatively at Zack.

"So, did the nice flower lady say anything about me, munchkin?"

The little girl giggled. "I'm not a munchkin," she said, "and she did. I think she likes you. Do you think she likes you back?"

Zack laughed, stealing a cookie from her plate. "Well, munchkin," he stared, annunciating the words, "I think she does."

Elmyra slammed her fist into the table. "Well, of course she does." The woman took a deep breath in, a few tears slipping from her weary eyes. "That's why I'm not going to fight with you."

"Miss Elmyra," Zack started, but the woman raised her hand.

"I know they took her. They took her from here, actually. She said something about protecting this little girl."

Marlene looked up and smiled at the acknowledgement. "The man was nice. He said that I was adorable and he hoped that when he has a little girl that she would be as cute as me." Marlene blushed, playing with the hem of her sunshine yellow dress.

Zack looked back to Elmyra.

Barret voiced the next question. "But why'd they want that girl? She didn't look like Shinra material ta me."

"She isn't," the woman stated, sitting down in the chair next to the tissue box. "They want her because of her blood. Aeris is a very special type of person – the last of the Ancients. Her real mother passed on about seventeen years ago... I took her in. My husband had gone off to war and it was so empty here.

"The first thing I noticed was how the flowers suddenly began to bloom -– they don't do it anywhere else in Midgar. Then I noticed how she was always talking of odd things, things no little girl could think of. It was odd. Then, _he_ began to visit. Dressed in his blue suit, a Turk. Aeris thought he was nice at first, but when he told her what she was and how he wanted to bring her back to Shinra, Aeris didn't think so fondly of him anymore. I knew he let her go often, him and the red-haired one, but I wasn't sure how long it would last. Today her luck ran out."

Elmyra looked over to Zack, her eyes pleading. "Please, she trusts you. I know you can find her. You and these people and the blond boy… Cloud, was it?" She looked around before covering her mouth. "Oh, I see. She said something about them going after him, too." Her wrinkled hand reached over and grabbed Zack's. "I know you will save them, both of them. Will you not go?"

"Of course."

* * *

"I think we should stay a little longer." Tifa took another sip from her tea cup, draining the last of the drink before placing back down onto the flowered surface of the saucer. The woman adjusted her checkered button-up, Zack noticed dully, for the seventh time.

"You said we'd be goin' twen'y minutes 'go," Barret said, looking down at the small girl in his lap. The ex-SOLDIER could see the adamant dislike of the idea of leave Marlene but... Cloud and Aeris could be withstanding torture..

"I've made up my mind," Zack interrupted the looks passing between the two AVALANCHE members. "I'm going to go save them. It would be easier with you guys but you don't seem ready for anything." Zack stood up, pulling the Buster Sword onto his back, placing Cloud's bed-sheet wrapped katana onto his back next to his own sword.

"What you talkin' 'bout?" Barret's eyes narrowed. "Chocobo-head an' that girl saved Marlene. I ain't gunna let them be in da Shinra's hands for too long. Plus, he knows too much 'bout AVALANCHE." The black man took the small child from his lap, kissing her with surprising gentleness on the top of her head.

"And you know I can't leave Cloud. He still needs to keep his promise." Tifa got up from her chair, pulling the gloves from her pockets and slipping the calloused fingers into the cut-off leather.

Zack looked towards the stairs where Elmyra sat on the bottom step, the crow's feet around her eyes more pronounced than ever. Gray strands sprouted from her bun of brown hair.

"You're leaving now?" she asked, putting her fingers together. Her eyes drooped down to the floor, tracing the floorboards.

"Yes, ma'am."

"I always knew something like this would happen with Aeris. She was so young, so sweet and innocent, then you came along and changed everything she knew. I hope you don't hurt her because I won't be able to control myself if you do. She's my daughter in everything but blood."

Zack looked down at the wooden floor, rubbing the sole of his shoe against the floor. There was nothing left to say, he noticed from the quietness of the house, even though it sheltered a dozen people. "I... thank–"

"No 'thank you''s. You can thank me when you come back with my daughter."

* * *

Sector Six didn't look much different except for an over-abundance of flyers, some crumpled and covered with muck laying in trash cans and littering the ground. Normally this wouldn't catch Zack's eyes but the picture splayed across the front, the black and gray picture, was one that haunted his vision.

The words **"Have you seen this person?" **were printed bright across the top of the picture while a pixilated version of Cloud's face, make-up adorned and in the blonde wig.

"What on Gaia... ?" He knelt down, picking a flyer off the ground, shaking it before looking over it.

Tifa had also picked up a flyer. "Looks like you've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble, Cloud." She began to recite, "'This person, the Sector Six Police believe, is the culprit or accessory who brutally murdered thirteen guards at the Corneo mansion. If you know anything of this woman or her companions, please come to the Corneo mansion. If your information helps aid and capture this woman, a reward of five thousand gil will be given.'"

Zack turned pale. "But Cloud didn't kill anyone," he said slowly, "there was no possible way. I was with you and Aeris, so who-"

_A man stood behind him, his hands on his hips, a cigarette dangling from his mouth._

"Reno," the name came out in a whisper. Of course it had been Reno, cool and confident Reno. There was no one else who would have been able to commit such a murder, so many murders, in such a small frame of time without leaving any evidence. The only thing they had was a single picture of Cloud in drag and he wouldn't know anything. But…

"This shows that the Sector police don't have a clue who Cloud is or what importance he has with Shinra."

"Wait, that's Chocobo-head?" Barret exclaimed, snatching the flyer from Tifa's gloved hands. "That ain't right. That looks too much like a chick, if you get my meanin'. Ain't cool ta have such a spiky-assed bastard playin' dress up."

This was _not_ going to turn out to be a pleasant conversation with Cloud later, but there was no time. Zack had promised many things, but in comparison, breaking this promise was no big deal. "Let's not get into that right now, but that's how we got Tifa away from Corneo." Zack rubbed his head before folding up the slightly dirty paper and placing it into the pocket of his pants.

"But then why is his face everywhere? I know it couldn't have possibly been Cloud. After all, he was… rather tied up at that moment," Tifa carefully added, skirting around speaking of Cloud's 'win.'

Zack looked down to the ground and regarded the brown-stained paper stained, Cloud's androgynous face splayed across the paper, his eyes seeming to pierce right through Zack's. The haunted look in his eyes shone even in the picture, shown by the different pigments and shades of grays and blacks. It sent a chill into the deepest core of his heart.

A question suddenly popped into the ex-SOLDIER's mind and he vocalized it before he could even think it through. "Why is there a picture? How were they even able to get one?"

Tifa answered quickly, lightly scratching at her nose. "They took that when Corneo, you know. Yeah, to add it into his book. I guess that's how they managed to get a hold of it. Even if it is them."

Barret gave a grunt. "What you talkin' 'bout? Course it's police."

There was a moment of silence that passed through each of the group members while paper skidded along the ground, dirtying and ripping.

"Because," Zack started slowly, "Shinra owns the police. That and everything else under the plate except for the hookers and drug dealers. Sometimes I even wonder about them too. There's a good chance that the police haven't even been informed of these murders and Shinra is trying to take care of them. Corneo is a Shinra man, even if that won't be for much longer."

Barret accepted this after throwing a few coarse words around. "Not even able ta trust your own damn police." He kicked a glass bottle into the street, the liquid inside soon seeping out, creating a puddle of warm alcohol.

"It isn't like you trusted them in the first place, Barret," Tifa pointed out.

He refused to acknowledge her words.

A few children rushed by and one knocked into Tifa, sending her spiraling to the ground. Zack saw the boy who had rushed by look back, yell a quick 'sorry' – a rarity for any slum child – and then continue on in the direction of the Corneo mansion.

* * *

It was Zack's idea to follow them. The fact they had been speaking of a rope to each other and how they were able to access the upper plate if they managed to get through, had piqued his interest. The ex-SOLDIER had no reason to forgo checking it out. There was a chance he would be able to get to the Upper Plate if it was true.

"Why we followin' after a bunch o' punks? Ain't no way they can get up to the plate. Ain't no way," Barret growled.

Zack refused to accept it.

There was a moment where the black-haired man could do nothing but mumble under his breath, but once they had seen it, the "Golden, Shiny Wire of Hope" as Barret had put it, there was no doubt in anyone's mind.

"But you said you didn't believe it," Zack stated in annoyance.

"Well, you did'n' convince me." Barret nodded, locking his gun arm into safety. "'Anyway, we betta get goin'. There ain't gunna be much time ta save the girl an' Chocobo-head if we keep wastin' time."

After a moment of contemplation and after listening to the girl near the wire complain that they couldn't get much further without batteries of some sort, Zack decided that there was no other way but to go find some damn batteries.

Zack nodded his head to the girl's whining and sent Tifa and Barret a look. "Well, why don't you keep talking to Tifa here," he gave out a laugh, pushing the woman toward the girl as he inched slowly away, "and I'm gunna, I'm gunna go now." He added another small laugh before he ran back, snickering at the hopeless look on Tifa's face and the absolutely stunned one on Barret's.

Oh, it would only take a few minutes at the most, but those few minutes would be plenty worth it after being far enough away from the two to breathe and think out a proper plan. They weren't bad people, perhaps a little screw-brained in the terms of Barret and too motherly for Tifa, but they were not hateful people - well, except for their dislike of Shinra. But Barret... Barret could not be silent even if his life depended on it.

"Batteries," Zack mumbled out loud, his mind running through various plots and plans to break into the Shinra Headquarters. There was no doubt in his mind that there would be a severe payment if they just cruised in via the front door, like Barret was sure to suggest, but what other option did they have? The Shinra didn't have any trap doors or elevator shafts from the outside, only a rickety set of shit stairs...

"Stairs." Zack took a deep breath before opening the door to the weapon shop. The man inside had been collecting pieces of junk since Zack had first entered Midgar.

"What do ya need?" the man behind the chain-link fence asked over the sound of whining machinery.

"Batteries." Zack pulled out his wallet, looking up at the man. "How much?"

The man pondered the thought for a moment before pulling out a large case of batteries. "Well, I've fixed all of these, so they're all good to go. How 'bout a hundred each?"

The ex-SOLDIER snorted. "You're trying to sell me a bunch of junk?"

"Naw, I fixed them, so they're fine."

"But one hundred each? Are you insane?"

The man leaned over and looked out at Zack. "Isn't like we get much business. How 'bout a hundred for a couple of them? That work?"

* * *

"Where are we?" Tifa asked, wiping her brow.

Zack looked around, letting his eyes adjust to the lack of light from the street lamps. The small hole they'd managed to crawl up from was where Sector Seven's support plate had fallen into the abyss. It had led them straight into Sector One's expansive space. The sign above the hole was shining, blinking neon green.

"Sector One, outside a rather popular Shinra bar." Zack scratched at his head, looking around in a confused manner. The plate had been above Sector Seven, but how exactly did they manage to get into Sector One?

"Well, how did we get here?"

There was no answer, so Zack merely shrugged his shoulder. "Eh, doesn't matter much anyway. We better go. I know we can get to the Headquarters by taking a left up here, then riding the train to Sector Four, but there isn't any way we can do that now that we're wanted criminals. Well, more wanted than before." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his dirty pants and started moving. "Well, you coming or what?" he tossed over his shoulder.

Tifa ran forward, grabbing Zack's arm, "Wait, where are you taking us?"

Zack took one hand out and patted her mindlessly on the head. "Well, there's a way of getting to Head Quarters that isn't really that well known. I was planning on going there now. You know, to save Cloud and Aeris? Those two people who got kidnapped?" His voice was filled with sarcasm, dripping onto the ground in thick clumps.

Tifa let go, her wide brown eyes turning to slits, staring. Zack felt her eyes tunnel straight through him, down into the deepest part of his core. He would have been unnerved if only he had feared the fighter. She was a handful and could sometimes be considered motherly, which was scary in itself, but there was no time to be afraid of anything.

"We don't have time to be screwing around. We have to save them," he spoke with fervor, his eyes shining brightly. Not even the nearby neon light could shine quite as brightly.

Zack felt something warm graze his cheek.

Tifa leaned up and wiped the liquid from his skin. "Are you crying?"

Zack shook his head and pointed upwards. "It rains quite a bit over Midgar." As if to prove the point, several more drops dripped from the sky.

Tifa gave a short nod and took a step back. Zack saw her lift her palm to her cheek, wiping away the rain.

"Rainin', huh? Haven't felt rain in a long time." Barret looked up at the sky. "Always saw things in da sky back home."

"Yeah, back home." Zack saw the dark clouds in the sky, a bolt of lightning grazing by quickly in a haze of white. A few more rain drops fell onto his face and rolled down. There were few things that made him feel so right, so full of timeless wonder. One happened to be the rain. The other was the sky, the bright blue of a cloudless afternoon.

So beautiful, so pure.

So right.

"Oh yeah, before I forget, We're going to be climbing quite a few stairs when we get there. I hope you're ready for that."

Zack knew his words would be a distraction, enough to allow a few droplets of warm liquid to slip down his cheeks without either of the AVALANCHE members noticing.

**Please Review!**


	9. Interlude Two: Reactor Reactions

**Edited 2/25/2012**

* * *

Interlude Two: Reactor Reactions

The snowfall from the recent night coated the ground like glass, covering the thick trees with cold frost. Gongagan Elders found the storm odd. There had never been much snow in their part of the region, one of the reasons their ancestors had decided on such thick forestry. Green leaves shone through the frozen spray while small bugs remained clinging to petals when the cold drops fell.

Zack Fair had taken this opportunity to do something of a rarity (well, rare as in him actually leaving a trace behind) something so compromising that if anyone found out he was sure it would be goodbye to his freedom and hello to eternity stuck in his room. He'd snuck from his window before the sun rose through the white treetops, his fingers slipping on the latch twice from the sheer excitement. It had taken a moment to slip from the cold home's second floor without waking either of his parents, whose heads lay little more than a foot from the window below his own. Every creak left its impression on Zack and when his father took in a particularly large breath, his entire muscular body trembling, the teenager had smacked his hand over his lips to keep himself from yelling.

After such a task, poor weather was little more than a nuisance that stuck to his skin. The only truly annoying thing about the entire situation was his feet leaving clear, easy-to-track footprints from the garden past the Mayor's home, through the six-room schoolhouse yard and out through the thick foliage protecting the town.

The furthest he had ever gone since the reactor was built were the front steps. Too many guards on duty at the time, as terrorism was up fifteen percent with reactor-related incidents, and it was still in the beginning stages. The drills had already pierced the earth, even with the Elders screaming their feelings to the grunts. The rest of the town, people tired of living by candle-light, did not oppose the Shinra.

As Zack knew, his parents weren't quite as happy as the others. The Fair family had always been on the wild side, as far down as six generations: constant womanizing resulting in a few impregnations and runaways, drinking and running through the town while everyone was sleeping and causing general chaos. Zack's own father had been somewhat of a playboy in his time but after marrying the Mayor's daughter and having Zack, he refused to let his son re-enact much of his early behavior (or, Zack admitted, he never allowed his father to find out.) There was a thin line Zack had never toed but with Shinra coming in, with new work and endless possibilities, the line had been destroyed.

Zack would let himself go wild, like every other Fair man had, though his father adamantly refused to believe such a thing could happen. So, they wanted the Shinra gone as far as their feet could take them but there was nothing they could do once the reactor had become more than a plan on wilted paper.

The sound of rustling snapped Zack from his reverie. For the first time the teenager noticed how far from town he had ventured. The billowing black smoke against the dark sky strangled the sky. Light emitted from deep within the metal contraption, eerie and luminous. There was little to be thought about, even with his fear, which he hadn't known had grown to such levels, pounding inside of his chest. A few steps more and he would be at the reactor... and he'd be able to see Shinra up close.

"Kid, what're ya doin' over here? Shouldn't you be all warm and fuzzy in your bed?" A man stepped out of the darkness, the cherry-red of his cigarette blazing. Smoke curled from the tip and through his nostrils before he tossed the half-finished cigarette to the ground, pounding it into wet earth. "Ya know, I didn't have a clue it could snow like this 'round here," the man commented, taking a step forward.

Zack's eyes opened wide."That makes two of us." In a nonchalant manner, the teenager leaned casually against a nearby tree, crossing his arms protectively in front of his stomach. "So, why are you sneaking around here like a criminal?"

The other man, not much older by the sound of his voice, laughed. "Aw, kid, don't do that ta me. Don't really have the time. Just checking out some things for the boss. Gettin' picked up soon and I really don't wanna spend too much more time here. Not to be an ass, kid, but this place is like living in fuckin' Lala Land. Never seen so many damn chocobos in all my life." He flipped his red hair over his shoulder, looking back at the reactor.

"So, you work for Shinra?"

"Yep. Kinda fun if ya like that sorta thing." The man rubbed the back of his neck, one foot still tapping the ground. "I like it enough."

Zack's eyes widened. "I want to join. Where do I sign up?"

The man's green eyes observed the other carefully. "That's why you snuck out of your house? To go beg some grunt to tell you how to get into Shinra?"

Zack opened his mouth, but then narrowed his eyes. "Wait, how do you know I snuck out?"

The man pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his blue suit, slipping one between pink lips. "Well, kid, I was doin' my job, y' know."

Zack didn't remember that night until nearly two years later, not long after seizing the ranking of SOLDIER Third-Class. In that room, barren of anything but a table and two chairs, the table garnished with one glass and a half-empty bottle of vodka, the memories of his first true rebellion gazed back with liquid-green eyes.

"Hey, the name's Reno. Me an' you seem to be stuck in a bit of a tiffy." The red-head swirled the vodka in his glass for a moment before lifting in to his lips. "It looks like the big boys upstairs want us ta be partners and I ain't too happy 'bout that. My normal partner, Rude, managed to blow up some bullshit experiment of Hojo's and now I ain't got no one to go with me for this damn assignment." He drainted the cold glass before smacking it to the table with a thud. "Anyway, we gotta go kidnap some guy off the plate. I gotta use you ta get in there. Some assassin from Wutai."

Zack's eyes, already enhanced with mako, observed the redhead.

"I ain't got nuthin' on my face. What are you starin' at? I know I'm sexy but didn't your mother teach you it's rude to stare?"

Zack pulled the other seat out and slammed his body into it. The wooden legs screeched against the ground, rubbing along the floor. Quickly, Zack took the glass, pouring himself a decent amount of the alcohol before draining it. The clear liquid went down harshly.

"I think we're gonna need a bit more of this," Zack mumbled.

Reno smirked. "Ya know, maybe we'll get along just fine."

* * *

******Please Review!**


	10. Into the Monster's Den

**Edited 05/25/2012**

* * *

Chapter Seven: Into the Monster's Den

"We ain't runnin' up them," Barret growled, searching for an end to the set of metal stairs. "Spiky, you out of your damn mind? I ain't no SOLDIER. I'm gunna die if I try doin' sumthin' stupid like climbin' these damn stairs."

Zack shook his hair wildly, spraying water on Barret's chest and arm, sending cold rain water dripping down his gun arm. "Sorry, Bossman, but we're going up those. If we cause a stir, all Holy is going to break loose."

When Barret remained silent, Zack answered himself, "It's a no then?."

"Have you ever ran up these?" Tifa asked, grabbing onto the railing, peering the same way Barret had moments before. Her hair swung in her face, the end of her ponytail hitting Barret like a wet whip.

"Yeah, I have climbed them. Used to do this constantly, once a week. Granted, I am a SOLDIER First-Class. Think you can keep up?"

Barret scoffed. "Yeah, Spiky. I can keep up wit' your pansy legs**. **I'm AVALANCHE, ya ass." On cue the man flexed the muscles in his two arms, the masses growing to the size of a child's head.

Zack looked condescendingly at him. "Uh, sure. Whatever you say, Bossman, especially when you were just complaining." He stretched his legs before taking in a deep breath. "Guess we better start now. Don't know how long Aeris and Cloud'll be here; better hope they don't send them to Junon."

Zack took off with the last word, his feet hitting the metal, boots squeaking. All he could feel was the adrenaline in his body working through his legs, pumping from his brain to his feet, pushing him forward with each step. There were few things that made him feel this. "Well, you said you could do this, didn't you?" he laughed loudly as he passed the first set of stairs in a streak of wind.

* * *

Fifty flights up, Zack remembered exactly why he hated training. His body was tingling with phantom pains. He almost felt like he would begin to sweat- something that didn't happen often with SOLDIERs. In fact, Zack thought, the only time he could remember getting completely sweaty was when he was having some form of sex.

Tifa and Barret were at least two floors down. He hadn't seen them for a good hour and he only hoped they hadn't suddenly dropped off the face of Gaia. All that kept him from turning away was the memory of two sets of bright eyes.

Cloud and Aeris were up there.

_I need a gallon of water, _Zack thought, licking his bottom lip. Dehydration was setting in and he hoped there would be some type of water fountain at the top._ But if **I'm** feeling this way I have to wonder about them. They've got to be dying. _

The thought wasn't pleasant. Saving Cloud and Aeris would take more than himself. Zack knew he was strong – stronger than most – but he couldn't do it alone. If, Gaia forbid, either Aeris or Cloud was badly hurt, Zack didn't know how he'd choose between them. With Barret and Tifa he knew he could get both.

So his feet continued to hit the floor, echoing loudly. The breath in his lungs went in and then left, the process repeating over and over again. The pores on Zack's skin opened, allowing a drizzle of sweat to slide down his back. The muscles in his legs twinged and he felt them stiffening up.

No wonder he fucking hated training.

_Not much longer_, Zack thought as he rounded the last corner, the door getting closer and closer. When he reached the last step his knees buckled and the man fell flat on his stomach into the steel. When he lowered his head it felt like a cool ice pack on his fire-hot skin. His throat was parched and his tongue felt like a limp piece of dried meat.

Barret and Tifa's feet padded up the final staircase twenty minutes later. Drenched in sweat, Barret was mumbling about his daughter – Zack could hear him repeating her name as a mantra. Tifa, on the other hand, looked furious, smashing her feet with excessive force into the stairs. "W–well," she spat out, falling down to the ground, "n–never ag–again." She gulped for more air. "Nuh uh," she mumbled, spreading her limbs out on the stairs.

"And you've done this 'fore?" Barret panted.

Zack attempted to nod his head, but his hair stuck to the ground. "Once a week."

"Outta yur fuckin' mind," came the black man's guttural reply. "Jus' need to rest fo' a lil' while."

Zack knew it was true, so he did not press to make them move. The first time he had conquered the Shinra Headquarter's stairs was right after being injected with Mako for the first time. A Second-Class had brought him and the other recruits up to tire their bodies. Mako gave an unhealthy amount of energy at once, so it was best to get rid of the excess.

Many hadn't made it to the halfway mark, but Zack, Zack had been able to surpass many of the SOLDIER Second-Classes. Their legs were more powerful but no one at that time had the same willpower as the sixteen-year-old grunt from Gongaga. Not long after, he was pushed up the ranks. By seventeen, Zack had mastered hundreds of others, earning the name SOLDIER First-Class.

"Jus' a few more." Barret took a couple of hulking breaths, wiping his head with his shoulder.

"Fine." Zack lifted his head up an inch before putting it back down. "Only because I can't move at the moment," the ex-SOLDIER added under his breath.

* * *

"There's gonna be guards after this point. I suggest you get your weapons ready, otherwise it's going to be a little hard protecting all of our asses." Zack unsheathed the Buster Sword, gripping the hilt with both his hands. The tip was still covered in blood, Zack noticed with distaste. The poor relic was in dire need of a wonderful scrubbing once they got out.

The violet-eyed man glanced over in both directions, making sure the others were ready before slowly opening the door. Bright light filtered in from overhead and Zack had to squint for a moment to see. There were four guards, he counted, only two brandishing weapons. Nearby, one of the red-clothed men was playing with a small rectangle of plastic.

Zack shut the door quietly. "So," he whispered, "there's a guard with a keycard. We're going to need one right now to get any further. I remember that this place ridiculous. You need to get the proper keycard to get up further. Used to have one that reached level sixty-eight, but they confiscated that when... well, it isn't that important. The fact remains. I don't have it anymore, so we're going to have to get another."

"We can just steal it from that guard and we're good?" Tifa voiced the plan. She nodded her head up and down. Zack noticed her brown eyes narrow, as if calculating something.

"Yep, that'd be it," he stated, looking between both Barret and Tifa. "Real simple. Told them to spend some money on fingerprint scanners, but noooooo," Zack exaggerated the word, pulling it along with him, "they just had to go and waste more money on a beach house in Costa del Sol. Shit if you ask me, but I guess it's a good thing they didn't." The black-haired man swung his head. "Doesn't matter though. We should start about... now!"

The door swung open, crashing into the wall on the other side. The guards looked up toward the group, the first one only having a second before he was swiftly dealt a slash to the stomach from Zack's blade. Blood poured from the cut as he fell to the floor.

Tifa took another guard down, pinning him successfully to the ground, but before she smacked his head against the ground he pushed down a button on his belt, causing the entire floor to light up in bright red light.

"Shit, backup!" Zack yelled as he sidestepped a bullet. Barret was shooting loudly, not noticing where he was pointing his gun and would have severely harmed the ex-SOLDIER if he had not had the common sense to move. "Quit shooting at everything!" Zack hollered before going after another guard.

As the last man fell from several bullet wounds riddling his chest, the lights still blinking red, the nearby elevator opened up, disposing nearly a dozen more guards armed with guns and from the glow of their hands, materia.

Zack didn't wait a moment to charge straight at the group of guards, but before he could advance much further than the first one he was hit in the chest with an ice spell. His skin turned to ice and the blood in his veins seemed to freeze. Intense, blinding pain engulfed him as Zack's heart froze inside of his body, the organ shutting down.

He was lucky. Tifa tackled the materia-wielder in the middle of a second spell, shattering two of his teeth that went shooting out of his mouth. As the ex-SOLDIER snapped from the spell, there was a bombardment of bullets whizzing past his body, one grazing the skin of his cheek. Blood spouted from the cut. Zack twisted the Buster Sword and impaled one of the closest men.

He shook the body off a second later, rounding on the next man. He had a thin blue shield encasing his body, a ball of green materia stowed in one hand, the other armed with a sword. He pointed the sword at Zack, who snorted.

"Just give up," he laughed, closing his eyes. When there was no response, Zack twisted his hands across the hilt, muttering a few incomprehensible words under his breath. In a flash of bright red light, Zack thrust his sword into the man and quickly pulled out, so quickly that it took a moment for a pool of blood to appear under his feet.

The guard fell back with a thud, squelching in his own blood. Zack broke from his trance, taking in a deep breath. He hadn't noticed how he held his own breath or how doing so made his spine tingle and his body shudder without explanation. Angeal had once called it the thrill of the kill. Even though the words disturbed him, Zack knew they were partially true. It was more the thrill of the fight and being able to allow all bonds to break apart in an instant. The thrill of... being a monster.

There was no one left alive. It took a moment for this fact to sink into Zack's brain, as not two minutes before there had been a handful of people swarming around, their red uniforms glaring in the false light. Now there were only shreds of clothing and blood as well as limbs scattered. The carnage reeked of salt and gunpowder.

"Well..." Zack took another deep breath, expelling it after a moment. "Can't say I don't feel bad. Didn't even have a chance."

One of the bodies on the floor took this as their opportunity to let out a hoarse half-scream. Barret, before even Zack had the time to move his head, shot another dozen rounds into the mutilated corpse. It fell back into the sea of blood.

"That was overdoing it." The ex-SOLDIER nudged the body with the toe of his boot. Glazed eyes stared back. "Yeah, way overdone."

Zack looked around for a moment, searching for Tifa. After a moment he noticed her crouching near the ground, one of her gloved hands searching the dead man's pocket. "Digging for gold?" he remarked at the pile of ever-growing objects.

Tifa snapped her head up and began to snarl. "I can't find the key." She made a jingling movement with her hand, pulling out a few pieces of blood-stained paper. "Damn," she swore, "nothing here either." The red-splotched papers were thrown to the ground in haste. "I did find some materia. One looked rather funny, so I thought it may help. It was from the guy with the blue shield. He dropped it after attacking you with it."

Zack caught the materia, the cold feeling returning, but only in his hands. "Mastered materia." There were few things so cold as mastered Ice materia.

"Wait, you got hit wit' mastered materia? Why ain't you dead?" Barret exclaimed in shock. He scratched his head, giving Zack a disgruntled look. "That ain't human."

Zack snorted. "Well, aren't you just the nicest guy," Zack threw the ball of materia up into the air before catching it once again, "I'm quite human. Are you human? I mean, you've got a gun grafted to your arm. Does that make you any less?" When there was no response he answered, "Nope. Not in the damn least."

"But I can't live through sumthin' like that!" came Barret's outraged reply.

"Think of it this way," the man bit his lip, pocketing the materia, "I've got a gun grafted into my arm too. We're turned into living weapons, and we both use these skills to save the people and things we care about. We aren't so different. I have mako and you have a gun-arm." Zack pointed his chin prominently to the steel. "And in all reality it's the same thing. Protection."

With these words, the ex-SOLDER kneeled down near one of the bodies and pulled a keycard from the half mangled pocket. He held the piece of plastic between his fingers. "Now that we have this, are you ready to get going?"

* * *

When the elevator doors pinged open, Zack ducked his head out, looking around to see if anyone was lurking near the glass elevator. There wasn't, he noticed after a moment of inspection. A woman was nearby, drumming her hand against a copy machine, the music issuing from the ear-buds so loud even Zack, though his enhanced hearing was to blame, could discern the sound of instruments and a choir of people singing in a high key.

"One chick to the right. Busy, but that doesn't mean she'll stand there and not turn around. Walk as quickly as you can without alerting anyone. Got it?" Zack turned, looking at his two companions. They nodded their heads, Barret a little more sullen than the woman.

It only took a few minutes for Zack to figure out exactly what level they were on, especially once he saw a man with a greasy mane of hair pulled back in a ponytail following a woman in a scarlet red dress into a large room with double doors. Zack swung his arm forward, stopping both Tifa and Barret. Tifa fell and landed on her backside, a muffled cry escaping her lips.

"Ehh," the ex-SOLDIER gritted his teeth, wincing. _Shit, too loud! He's gonna hear me and find us and that isn't gonna be good, _Zack thought for one panicked moment but the scientist was too quick. He turned around and looked straight at the three. There was a great intake of breath. Zack felt his heart beat out of his chest and splat on the ground.

At first glance, Hojo didn't look any different then he had a year before, but Zack had the uncomfortable feeling that if he could look directly into the man's eyes, more insanity would lie within. His hands folded behind his back, the old man twisted around for a moment, glaring at them from behind his glasses.

Zack snapped his eyes shut, placing faith in the child's belief that if he couldn't see anything no one could see him. Hojo's appearance informed Zack exactly who was behind Aeris's and Cloud's kidnapping.

There was a moment of stillness where both parties stopped breathing before the cruel scientist unfolded his hands and pushed his glasses up his nose. Spinning on his heel, he joined with the woman in the red dress – Zack assumed was Scarlet – and shut the door.

"Odin's ass, Zack," Tifa grunted as she pushed herself off the floor, wiping her hand across her forehead, "watch where you fling your arms-not everyone is a super SOLDIER."

A moment of silence passed between the three until Zack heard a low rumbling from behind the door. He ignored Tifa's comment. "That sounds like Heidegger's insane cackle," the ex-SOLDIER whispered, his mind running through various memories of the man who had a short fuse and a quick punch. The only people who had seemed exempt from the random smacks were the three SOLDIER First-Class Elites.

"_But, why not?" Zack sat down on his knees in the middle of the room, looking around, confused. "I've even been at the mercy of Heidegger, but why not you?"_

_The black-haired man next to him sat comfortably in a chair, his hand running over the shimmering weapon in his lap. "Well, we taught him at an early age exactly what we could do. I would like to believe that the General, Genesis, and I were able to convince him of exactly what was proper and what was not." _

_"How'd you manage that?"  
_

_"I don't think you'd want to know."  
_

Zack shook his head, the previous thoughts being pushed to the back of his mind. "Doesn't matter. We should try to listen in on them. There once was a good spy hole near the Turk offices, but since they moved it down to the fifty-third floor I don't know what's changed. It's northwest corner of this floor. Shouldn't be too hard to find."

* * *

As the three got closer to their goal, the worse it smelled. At first, Zack had thought nothing of it, but as they continued on and the stench grew overpowering as their feet trailed across the floor, the black-haired man knew exactly what Shinra had turned the Turk's small office into.

"Why are we going into a bathroom?" Tifa, Zack noticed, had her glove over her mouth and nose.

"This was where they had the Turk's office. I guess the complaints from the Heads made the old man put in bathrooms on this floor. Reno whined like a little bitch about having to go down a floor to take a leak." He held the door open, gesturing with his hands. "Ladies first."

It took a moment to situate the three in the rather small restroom, Zack having to squirm through to get past the other two. He placed his black boots on the porcelain bowl, reaching a hand into his pocket to pull out a pocket knife. There was a click as the blade swept out. Zack pushed it up into the grate, forceful.

"What you doin'?"

"Getting the grate loose. If you're just going to stand there and look like a moron, can you at least lock the door?" The popping reverberated against the walls. "Ah, there she goes." Metal slid into his hands and the black-haired man bent down, placing the grate of the floor, a deep contrast to the green floor tiles.

"Now that that's done, we get to climb up-"

Barret cut him off. "What you sayin'? I ain't gunna fit in there."

"Well," Zack started, clapping his hands before putting them up through the hole in the ceiling, "stay down here then. Don't hear what those Heads have to say. I mean, I guess you aren't the leader of AVALANCHE."

The burly man growled, a hoarse sound escalating from inside his throat.

Zack managed to pull his body up, reaching down after a second for Tifa's hand. "You comin' or should I just go?"

The brown-eyed woman reached up, putting her feet on the bowl. "You don't need to ask," she stated as Zack pulled her through the hole.

"Let's go," the ex-SOLDIER said, pointing his finger toward the dim light coming from a hole much like the others.

A sound finally came from Barret, who was cursing as he pushed his metal arm into the hole. "Ain't leavin' me." Another grunt or two later the overlarge man managed to get himself through with all of his limbs intact. Patiently, Zack waited for his comrade before he continued.

"How do you know about this place?" Tifa asked, crawling behind Zack.

He grunted for a second, pushing his body further with his elbows. His things banged on the metal. "Should have left this shit down there," the man said sarcastically before answering the woman, "and the reason I know of this place was because of who I hung around. Turks are too nosy for their own good. Got us into a few tight spots when I was still a grunt. Even had trouble when I became a SOLDIER."

They crawled through the ducts for a minute or so, slowly so their sounds were few and far between, until they were all situated around the second grate, the voices inside becoming louder and audible.

"But if we do that, there's a chance the people of Midgar will begin to hate Shinra even more and with that there's a higher chance of rebellion. Already sixteen people have been arrested for connections to AVALANCHE in the other Sectors. Sir, this isn't good!" the black-haired man, someone Zack vaguely remembered from his own time in Shinra, yelled, slamming his fist into the table.

The blond president scowled and rubbed at his mustache. "They will trust us more, Tuesti, for protecting them. You should know better by now. I thought we spoke of your feelings for the rats; I told you to crush them months ago. It is not in your favor to be so..." the man stopped, pointing his hand toward Scarlet, indicating she should complete the thought.

"Childish and naive?"

"Yes, Scarlet. Exactly. Now, onto more important subjects. Hojo, how are our specimens?"

The scientist stood, hunched over. "Specimen 'A' is being rather troublesome. Her menstrual cycle is complicated and will require further analysis. It would be wise for us to begin breeding as soon as the test results come in. Granted, there is the problem with the specimen being completely inferior to her own mother." Zack knew what the tightness in Hojo's voice meant. It was the same tone Zack had heard him use in the lab numerous times, mainly in reference to Cloud.

"And the other...?"

"Much, much more important than I had expected from the beginning. It seems as though the mutations are affecting his muscle _and _brain tissue. I have been experimenting on him for the better part of the day and already I've uncovered a treasure trove of information. Full test results are still on their way but I'm certain if I can harness this DNA we will have a super-weapon on our hands."

Zack gripped his hands together. They were speaking of Aeris and Cloud... Cloud, a superweapon? That wasn't possible...

"Will we be breeding these two specimens?"

Hojo snorted. "It would be best if we did not. The other specimen has already begun the process of readying. I believe that it would be best to wait until we see if science is ready for such a child that Specimen 'A' and 'C' would bear. We will stick to the original plan. Once the first offspring is born and more tests come back conclusive, we will mate these two, perhaps creating an offspring more powerful than even Sephiroth." Hojo cackled, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Normally," he began again, "I would be displeased with the one hundred years of researching the first offspring but with these new genes there will be a chance of reaching this 'Promised Land' you search for within two, perhaps three years."

"That sick bastard," Zack whispered, his joints contorting, stomach shriveling. "How could he? Cloud and Aeris, breed?"

Zack's mind filled with awful images of a child chained to a pool of mako, submersed, begging for freedom. His eyes were a bright mako blue, hair the color of chestnut. His blue veins lined his face and body, the sickly skin the color of paper. It was Holy's wrath all over again, the Mansion of Despair.

The man gagged. He had to shove his head to the ground, the cool steel on his skin, to keep the bile from rising, to ignore the acidic taste covering his tongue. When he lifted his head, he noticed the looks of absolute horror passing between the two AVALANCHE members. They hadn't noticed him. For that, Zack was glad.

The room had been vacated as Zack had been seeing flashes of a false child floating in green substance, screaming, crying, clawing for freedom.

* * *

It was going to be impossible for Zack to get up to the next floor without at least knocking someone out. Surprisingly, the chance arose the moment the three were able to squeeze themselves from the shaft above. Their victim was an lab tech in his late forties, hair already turning a thick peppery color, who had been knocking on the door for, as he claimed, nearly a half an hour.

When Zack opened the door, the man looked relieved before the backside of his Buster Sword smacked into his skull, rendering him unconscious before he even connected with the floor.

"That's going to hurt later." Zack stuck his hand into the man's pockets, searching for the keycard he knew would be in there. "Oh plastic, where in Gaia are you?"

"How do you even know he has a keycard?" Tifa asked wearily, looking at the man.

"Because every floor below this one has a bathroom, but none above. He's also got a lab coat on... hold on... here it is, pretty little thing." It wasn't really pretty, Zack knew, but it was going to get them up to the next floor without hurting anyone. Well, hurting someone worse than just a minor bump on the head.

"So, we goin' up?"

Zack rolled his eyes. "No, we're going downstairs to drink coffee. _Yes_, we're going up."

"No need ta be an ass."

Zack stood and turned the handle of the door. The floor was quiet and Zack smiled. Perhaps it wasn't going to be so hard to get Cloud and Aeris back from Shinra after all.

* * *

It was harder then he had expected, Zack had to admit. They had managed to get up to the sixty-seventh floor but something was in their way. It hadn't been a human, nor an animal, but Zack couldn't move his feet in any direction except toward the tank. He passed several boxes positioned the wrong way, much like they had been in the Mako reactor, but none of this concerned him. It was the bright green light emitting from the small glass piece that allowed him to see inside.

The thing was lacking a head. Then, after a moment, he felt as though all of his blood was pooling to one side, like a magnetic attraction had taken place between his blood and that of Jenova.

Oh, he remembered the monster, the headless spectre that was once a complete human locked in the ice of two thousand years ago. Sephiroth had called her his mother in the reactor, cutting her head off to keep her close to him. Brief flashes of light, a scream and then nothingness.

"Jenova?" Zack ran the pads of his fingertips over the glass in confusion. It was her body, _its body_, but the blue skin wasn't right. It couldn't be real, could it?

There was a sudden scream, a hoarse yell that shook Zack's core. He twisted his head to the side, seeing a container filled with thin gas, a body pounding into the glass repeatedly. The screeching came from the boy's mouth, his bloodied arms smashing against the clear surface, smearing red liquid across the barrier. The boy inside had the look of feral monster, the whites of his eyes blood-shot, the blue standing out vividly.

It wasn't the way he was supposed to look. He was just a kid, a boy who looked no older than sixteen with the mentality of a teenager. He wasn't meant to be a monster... but his eyes, so wide, sent a tingle of fear down Zack's spine. Violet met sky blue. There was little but craziness in hi's eyes, horror and confusion in Zack's own.

"Cloud!" Tifa yelled, running past the other two, nearly tripping over a box in her hurry.

While she was running forward, her hands punching at the glass to release the blond, his eyes stayed locked with the ex-SOLDIER. Something broke in Cloud's eyes, and Zack dropped to his knees. There was a moment of realization for Zack during which the taste of bile rose once again in his throat.

It was the same. The monster in the tank so long ago, the Jenova pieces heremembered-it looked exactly the same.

Cloud's eyes flashed green.

* * *

Before Zack had the chance to reach the glass, the elevator inside was moving, raising the floor underneath Cloud. His face hadn't changed but he had begun to dig his nails into the glass, scratching for freedom. Blood dribbled out of his mouth as he let out a hoarse yell.

"Shit!" Zack banged his fist on the glass still coated with the blood of his comrade. The next floor was the scientific labs. How long would Hojo torture Cloud before Zack was able to get to them? Quickly, he scanned the room, searching for a way up.

"An elevator!" Tifa yelled, her feet already moving toward the northern-most wall, climbing up a ramp. Zack hadn't even noticed her movement; she had been standing right next to him one second, then gone in the next. She pushed the button, causing the elevator to grind its way down.

"What're we waiting for?" Zack jumped clean over another set of boxes blocking his passage, turning his head to quickly regard Barret. "You gonna come or what?"

A few screamed orders suddenly pitched through the air. Barret didn't answer but turned around, switching the safety off, letting out a blaze of bullets.

"Shinra ain't gunna get past me. Go get Chocobo-head and that ladyl!" Barret stopped for a moment, looking over his shoulder at Zack, the black of the man's irises disconcerting. "Get movin'!" The Shinra elites appeared in the room and Barret turned back around, this time pressing the small red button on his gun arm.

In the pre-battle silence, the _ping!_ of the elevator was deafening. Tifa grabbed the ex-SOLDIER's arm, pulling him in just in time: a bullet whizzed into the metal doors just as they shut, Barret still screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs.

"What are we gunna do?" Tifa asked as she pulled her gloves up.

"What do you think we're gunna do?" Zack snapped, taking in a few deep breaths. "We're going to save Cloud before that bastard puts one more finger on him. I won't let it happen again."

"What do you mean 'again?'"

Zack slammed his fist into the metal siding of the elevator. "Not now, not ever!"

The _ping!_ echoed in the elevator and before Zack gave the woman a moment to ask another question, one he didn't want to answer, he pulled out his Buster Sword and left the small confined space.

He was already seeing red.

* * *

The red Zack saw, he noticed a moment later, wasn't due to the anger consuming his core. Trapped inside another glass tube, much like the one the black-haired man had watched his friend disappear from not two minutes before, was a red beast pawing at the glass, leaving thick jagged lines in its wake. He looked like one of Hojo's experiments: semi-drugged, covered in dozens of open wounds and stitches, a _XIII _carved into his shoulder blade.

This was Hojo's playground.

Zack felt the bile rise in his throat as a noxious blue gas was pumped into the glass prison, making the red-furred beast fall to the ground, eyes glazing over. It was a place where animals were turned into monsters, pitiful creatures transformed into sharp-teethed, vicious _things_. No words could explain the lowly creature Professor Hojo was.

Zack ran when he heard a muffled scream of agony. Dodging past crates, up another ramp, the first thing he saw was Cloud strapped down to a metal board, his clothes in a heap near his feet. His torso was pierced by a dozen large needles, the tubes hooked up to several strange colored IV bags. His hands were bound to his sides to prevent him from ripping the needles out, and his eyes were laced with something beyond agony. A white cloth bound his mouth. Blood was already spotting through.

"Shh." Zack motioned for Tifa to follow him. "It's okay, Cloudy, just give us a sec to get these things out. Tifa, go grab his clothes," Zack ordered.

She looked ready to object, but smashed her lips together before nodding, her eyes unable to stay steady.

Zack took the few last steps to the boy tied on the metal table, talking in deep, comforting sentences. "Everything's okay now. Just hold still and we'll get you out of there." Slowly, he moved his hands to the needles, pulling each out with care, placing them on the floor. Once the delicate extraction process was complete, the ex-SOLDIER began to untie the blond. First his mouth - the boy sucked in one grateful, shuddering breath - then the wrists and legs.

"Shh, Cloud. Everything's alright, everything's okay." Zack had never been overwhelmed by such a desire to grab the teenager and hug him until neither of them could breathe. He just looked so scared, so heartbroken, that Zack could barely restrain himself from crying.

The boy sat up and turned his head to the side, expelling a stream of chemically-changed blood from his throat and mouth. Gushing forth from his mouth were unnatural colors, shades the human body couldn't possibly create: crimson tinged with dark blues and greens, speckled with black. It was a mess Zack had seen before too many times before.

Tifa had gathered most of Cloud's clothing a moment later. Her face turned green as she saw the puddles on the ground. By this stage, the teenager's retching had somewhat calmed. "Here," she said, approaching Zack and placing the clothes in his waiting hands, taking care to avoid the scattered needles and blood on her way. There was a moment of hesitation but afterward Tifa lightly put her hand in Cloud's matted spikes.

Zack resisted doing the same motherly act, choosing instead to unfold the clothes. "Okay, let's get you into these." Zack gave a fake smile to the blond when he finished expelling the foreign chemicals from his system.

Cloud coughed brutally, covering his mouth as more of the inky substance parted from his body.

Zack looked around before grabbing the marginally clean robe on the ground, wiping Cloud's face with the white material. "It ain't that bad, Cloud. See?"

Cloud spat in the opposite direction. "Sure." His voice sounded like it was grating against his teeth. A few tears leaked from his eyes. Cloud grabbed the robe from Zack's hand, blowing his nose unceremoniously.

Tifa moved her hand away. "I'm not sure how long Barret is going to be able to keep those guards away. We should hurry up and find Aeris otherwise we won't get another chance."

Zack nodded his head. _We need to find Aeris before they try 'breeding' her, _he reminded himself, the nasal voice of Hojo echoing in his brain. One day, Zack would kill that monster with his own bare hands. Five years of experimentation, destroying the three greatest warriors in the world, murdering thousands of people, attempting to hurt Aeris... but the last straw was Cloud.

For this, for everything...

Zack would rip Hojo's heart out with his bare hands.

* * *

Zack helped Cloud into his clothes only because the boy was too weak to do it himself. A good percentage of his blood lay on the ground and in the glass prison. Earlier, when the boy had attempted to stand on his own in his typically stubborn way, he had fallen to his already-bruised knees.

"Thanks," Cloud managed in response to Zack's aid.

Zack grunted, fixing the last zipper. "Wasn't going to let you run around mooning people. I've got a bit more brains than that. Besides, I've seen worse on missions. Your white ass isn't that much of a shock-"

However, the nasal voice that then entered the room interrupted, saying, "I guess that should have been expected."

Zack whipped his head around to see the professor standing near another glass tube, running his fingers over a clipboard in his hands.

"But," he continued, "I will just have to cope with your intrusion." He made a few other notes on the board before leaning forward, pressing a red button on the side of the glass tube. A bright flash of light escaped from the center and the grinding of an elevator rising could be heard. "After all, you have brought a rather nice meal for _XIII_, not to mention that wonderful specimen for him to breed with." Hojo walked towards the trapped red beast, tapping his finger against the glass.

The red-furred monster looked up from his one good eye and laid his head back down.

"Perfect," Hojo muttered.

Zack turned to the other glass prison to see Barret and Aeris inside. Barret had his beefy hands tied behind his back while Aeris was fighting to release the material binding her.

"Shit," Zack gritted his teeth. "Hojo, what on the fucking Planet are you thinking? Aeris is human and you aren't going to be feeding my boss to that damn dog!" From the corner of his eye, Zack could see Tifa walking forward silently, staying out of Hojo's eyeline. She sent a look to Zack, one that explained everything and nothing.

Apparently, Cloud saw, too.

"There are so many frivolous things in this world." Hojo rubbed the pen against the paper again, completely absorbed in his notes.

"Where's my sword?" Cloud questioned, his voice breathy. There was pain in his eyes, Zack noticed, but the blond wasn't willing to allow pain, no matter how immense, to cripple him.

"I don't think I should give it to you," he answered immediately.

Cloud turned and narrowed his eyes. There was a small crusting of blood under his nose that Zack could clearly see as he leaned closer to the ex-SOLDIER's face.

"I want my sword. Now."

Zack took a step back, pulling the katana off his back, handing the sheet-wrapped sword over. "I think we _should_ stop that crazy bastard before he does something else-" he was cut off by the sound of an inhuman shriek, simultaneous with glass shattering. In a flash of red and teeth, the beast sprung out of the glass cage, straight onto the unsuspecting professor.

Hojo made a sound akin to a girlish shriek as he was pounced on, his head cracking against the floor. The beast growled and turned its head to Zack. "Are you going to help or will you stand there like a drunken fool until security is called?"

"You _talk_?" Tifa yelled, her mouth falling open comically.

Zack cocked his head, staring. "The fuck? _It_ talks!"

The beast sniffed, putting more pressure on Hojo, who let out another squeal. "I will talk as much as you like later, ma'am. Now, I think I am going to enjoy ripping out your throat, _Professor_." The creature leaned forward, its teeth coming closer to the greasy skin of Hojo's throat.

Zack's eyes darted away for reasons he was unsure of. He saw Barret and Aeris climbing out of the destroyed tube, a few small tears pricking the woman's eyes. Briefly distracted, it was as second too late that he saw Hojo had managed to push some button on another tube, opening the door. Several mutated monsters climbed out, snapping their jaws, one attaching itself to the red beast's front paw. The beast let out a loud growl as it was pulled from Hojo's body.

"I should be leavin," Hojo stated shakily.

"I don't think so." Cloud skirted past Zack, pointing his katana at Hojo's chest. "We should lock you in one of these cages and let the monsters eat you."

Hojo gave an airy chuckle. "Oh, the irony. Allow the scientist's precious work to eat him. It would be something only you would come up with." The scientist giggled at the thought.

"Tifa, I think you should get Aeris out of here. Those things don't look very nice," Zack said as he slowly pulled out his Buster Sword, motioning with his head for both women to take shelter in a nearby office.

The two women scrambled past, for once doing as the ex-SOLDIER insisted.

* * *

Sometime while he'd been preoccupied fighting the monsters, Hojo had been whacked in the head with a box of medical instruments or so Zack believed from the large corner indent in his head and broken beakers surrounding him.

"You should have allowed me the pleasure of ripping out his jugular," the red beast commented, sitting down, the materia ball locked in the bangle around his foreleg shining brightly.

Zack felt a warm breeze tickle his face. The few thick scratches he had received from the fight disappeared in the warm green light. "Thanks for that," said the black-haired man as he looked around the laboratory, assessing the battle damage.

Tifa and Aeris had come back for a few minutes after the fight but had disappeared down to the sixty-sixth floor in a rush after Zack told them of the plans to get out of the building as soon as possible. Barret had gone with them - Zack had resisted a snort. The AVALANCHE leader wasn't susceptible to many things but Tifa telling him to do something... he would walk the ends of Gaia on her command. It was interesting to watch ever since their first meeting.

Cloud sat on a nearby box, his eyes never leaving Hojo. It scared Zack a bit, the intensity held within the blond's mako blue eyes. There were times others held that look in their eyes but it mostly came from the war veterans who had seen things no human should have seen. It was understandable, of course, for Cloud to be staring at Hojo, as if he wished to pull out the man's intestines with his bare hands and hang them from the ceiling... but…

Zack hated that look.

Cloud sat with his head on his knee, the other leg dangling languidly. The katana lay near, on a box within reach. Zack was waiting for Cloud to snap, pick up the katana and shove it into Hojo's head.

"Your glares aren't going to kill him," the beast pointed out.

Cloud continued to stare.

"So, what exactly are you, anyway?" Zack asked, his fingers itching for a cigarette. _Haven't had one in five __years. Take that, you cancer-stick sucking bastards, _he thought grimly.

"I am what you see. It is far too complicated to explain, especially when we should be heading to the lower floors to find your friends. I do not care to be caught again."

Zack nodded. "Well, can you at least give us your name?"

"My name is of no concern, but the name bestowed on me by him," it gestured to Hojo, "was Red XIII. I do not care of what you call me, but perhaps you could think of me as a male, not an 'it'."

"Sorry."

"Ah, do not feel sorry. May I give you some advice?"

"Yeah, sure. What is it, Red?"

Red looked pointedly at Hojo. "You may want to restrain your friend."

Zack's eyes widened dramatically as he jumped up, colliding with Cloud, who was already poised over Hojo's body, the point of his katana lightly touching the scientist's throat. Luckily for Hojo, when Zack knocked into the blond his sword skewered the ground centimeters away from his neck.

"Are you out of your fucking mind, Cloud?" Zack yelped, pulling the shorter boy by the waist, leaving the katana embedded into the ground.

"Not quite, but you can call me whatever you want after I kill that bastard!" Cloud struggled hard against Zack's arms, reaching for the hilt of the katana in vain. The strength left in his battered body was astonishing. Zack pulled the blond up, the jerkiness causing Cloud's head to smash into Zack's jaw, sending both reeling back into boxes.

"We're going to kill him, but let's wait until he's awake." Zack held onto Cloud, his breath running across his friend's face. "I want him to watch as we do it. I... I want to hear him scream."

"Well, ain't you two the brightest crayons in the box," a snarky voice slashed through the air.

Zack pulled Cloud up with him, meeting Reno's cold green eyes. There was a sling perched around his neck, his left arm shoved inside, while a trademark cigarette hung from his lips. There was his smirk. There was his EMR swinging from his belt. There was even that tell-tale 'I just got laid' hair style.

But that cold look… Zack hadn't seen it in years.

This was the angry Turk he never wanted to cross. This was the man everyone in the slums feared. This was the person who could kill with a single finger. This was a man who was second-in-command for the Turks. This was Reno on the job.

"Well, lookie who I found, Boss. Do I get a raise?"

Tseng walked up behind him, his hands folded patiently. He said, "Perhaps I will be able to stop the company from taking those expenses out of your paycheck for destroying your office." At this time a dozen armed SOLDIERs surrounded the group and the ex-SOLDIER understood there was no escaping.

Reno made a face.

"Well, either way, we bringin' these guys with the others?" Reno walked toward Zack, his eyes unchanging.

"Yes, Reno."

Reno already had Zack by the hair, roughly pulling him away from Cloud. "Well, I've got him. You can grab the others. Get a muzzle for that thing, eh?"

* * *

In the elevator, Reno leaned forward and pushed the button. It was only Zack and the red-haired Turk.

Reno leaned forward and began to murmur, "You're lucky you know me." He pulled his arm from the sling, sliding a keycard into Zack's pocket. "And you're lucky I don't fuckin' hate you."

Never had Zack been so confused. What in all that was Holy going on with Reno?

"You aren't bipolar, are you?" Zack whispered, causing the redhead to laugh uncontrollably.

The elevator_ ping!-_ed open and the mask went straight back on Reno's face.

* * *

The president of Shinra Inc. was a bug that needed squishing, Zack conceded as Reno pushed him toward the man's desk. Zack knew where they were headed the moment Reno had pushed the 70th floor's button. That was where Shinra sat on his throne of skulls and gold, laughing as he watched from his tinted windows the destruction of the Sectors he had created. He probably had a good show of all of the Mako Reactors blowing up, not to mention the fall of the Sector Seven Plate.

_Enjoyed it too, no doubt_, Zack thought bitterly as he trudged forward, further into the room. The elevator pinged open again and the ex-SOLDIER twisted his head back to see Cloud.

Reno pulled back on Zack's bound hands, causing him to stop short. "Nope, no can do. Keep on walkin', buddy." The red-head swiftly shoved Zackn forward, causing his legs to buckle, but he continued to walk after regaining his footing.

"Zack!" Tifa yelled from across the room, also bound at the wrists with rope. Barret was with her, slouching, a blank stare on his face as he kicked the linoleum floor.

Zack closed his eyes. "So they caught you too," he said when Reno finally pulled him within talking distance to the AVALANCHE members. "Where's Aeris?"

Barret was the one who answered. "They caught her. Tried ta stop 'em, but the persistent bastards wouldn't lay off. Ain't feelin' too hot about not protectin' her wit' all she's done for Marlene, but we ain't gunna leave her here."

Tseng approached them. Red was tied up neatly at the head Turk's side, looking like a hog ready to roast. "There was no other possible way," Tseng stated, his face controlled under Zack's incredulous glare, "I told the experiment _XIII _to stop attempting to chew through the rope, yet he refused. This is what our SOLDIERs came up with. For preventive measures, of course."

"You've become even more of a bastard over time, I see," Zack spat.

This caused the older man to laugh. "Oh, Fair, you always were amusing. I haven't become more of a bastard than the last time we met. I became more fit for the role I was given. Do you fit your given role?"

"I worked hard for that! It wasn't just _given_ to me, you fucking Turk!" If there had been poison in his stare, Zack was certain the man not three feet away would be choking on his own tongue.

"Be that as it may, I don't believe we should keep the President waiting any longer. He wishes to see all of you together and I have no doubt this will most certainly please him. You and your friends, after all, have done extensive damage to Shinra Inc."

"But where is Cloud! Aeris! Shit, you didn't-"

Tseng nodded. "We have retrieved both specimens. I assure you they are safe. Safer than they were in your incompetent hands, anyway."

Reno pushed him forward once again. This time Zack was able to move.

* * *

Shinra smirked from his desk, straightening out his red suit. "It certainly is not a pleasure to see all of you before me, I assure you," he began, standing and pushing his chair from the desk. "I must say, you and the rest of AVALANCHE have caused quite a stir. I've wished for nothing more than to deal with you with my own hands." His eyes scanned the room.

"Tifa Lockhart, Barret Wallace, and Zack Fair, our own legendary SOLDIER First-Class. I was assured you had been locked in a basement for the past five years, but no matter. Your escape was well known and thus dealt with accordingly. The woman Turk who had allowed you to escape was executed for treason. We do not accept failure, Fair; you should know that."

The ex-SOLDIER felt a wave of nausea overcome him. Cissnei had done something heroic, allowing people who wouldn't have had a shot to get away. She had been such an amazing person, a good woman with a shining smile. Zack had dated her several times and while it never would have worked out, she was a good person. No wonder Reno was willing to save Zack. Shinra was more than corrupted; they were at the point of killing their own people.

This was disgusting.

"So, now you're killing your employees. Can't say I'm shocked. You always were a moron."

The president laughed at the ex-SOLDIER's comment, moving from his desk to step directly in front of each captive. "Whatever you say, Fair. I do believe we would be willing to take you back into our out-reaching arms if you wanted. You were one of the few SOLDIERs who showed potential, if I remember properly. Isn't that right, Tseng?"

The Turk nodded curtly. "Yes, President," he answered automatically.

"Well," Zack stated boldly, "I'm not coming back, so you can shove your foot up your fucking ass. Now, where in Gaia are Aeris and Cloud?"

The President smirked, returning to his chair, sitting himself down. "In a safe place." He picked up a pen and started scribbling on the bottom of a page. "She's the last surviving Ancient, you know; descended from the Cetra who lived thousands of years ago. Now they are just another forgotten page in history."

Zack heard Red, who was laying a few feet away, say, "Cetra? That girl, she's a survivor of the Cetra?"

_Ancient, Cetra-whatever. Aeris is still the girl I loved and cared about. It isn't like she's some alien monster like Jenova; just a scared woman who doesn't know what's going on and who she is. _

The President nodded. "Yes, _XIII_, a Cetra. The Ancients will show us the way to the '_Promised Land_'. Personally, I'm expecting quite a bit out of her."

"But the '_Promised Land'_… Isn't that just a legend?"

Zack had only heard of legends of the Promised Land, which Red seemed to know quite a bit about. Zack took it at face value-a beautiful world with no pain and no monsters.

"Even so, it is far too appealing to not pursue. It is said the land is fertile. If the land is fertile-"

"_You muthafucka!"_ the black man roared, quick to comprehend Shinra's plan. "There's gotta be Mako's what you're sayin'. Ain't that right, you dirty scum-bag!"

"Quite. I am surprised. You of all people would see the opportunity in this wonderful land. Shinra will build a Mako reactor in its fertile soil, creating even more money for our company and energy for our consumers. Why do you look so displeased?"

"Mutha'fuckin' bastards, the whole damn lotta ya! That's the Planet's lifebloo'! You're stealin' it an' linin' your damn pockets wit' gold! It ain't right!" Barret fought against the chains around his wrists.

Zack tilted his head back and spat on the papers on the President's desk. "You revolting pig," he snarled, violet eyes flashing as he glared at the man's red suit, staring at the place where man's greedy black heart should have been. "You're going to use them for gold? What _are _you? And how could you let this happen?" Zack directed this toward Tseng, who didn't even have the heart to look ashamed.

"I think we're done here, so it would be best for you to take these terrorists to their cells. Tseng," the President looked back down to his paperwork, "I believe I am finished."

Zack allowed himself to be pulled back by Reno, Several SOLDIERs who had been called in grabbed the other members, one nearly getting his face mask torn off my Red's sharp teeth.

"I ain't done wit' you, bastard!" Barret yelled.

Silently, Zack begged his companion to hold his peace. He knew there was only going to be so much screaming before one of the SOLDIERs bashed Barret over the head.

* * *

"Zack, are you asleep?" Aeris's voice drifted through the wall. They had been stuck in their cells for a few hours or so Zack gathered. The watch on his wrist was confiscated, like everything else he'd owned. Even the keycard in his pocket, which the guard hadn't noticed because it was miraculously shoved into his wallet, the side barely sticking out, was still there. Zack couldn't be sure as to why, because it was obvious what it was, but there was no way of him knowing. The best he could come up with was that the guard was either blind or just incredibly stupid.

"No," he answered, tired.

"Well, other people are," Cloud mumbled, his voice gruff from lack of sleep. He was locked in with Aeris, Zack had figured out a few minutes after being escorted into the cell. The walls weren't thick enough to block out the sound, thankfully.

"Sorry, Cloudy-boy. Just try to get to sleep. We'll be quiet."

"Hmph, yeah. You being quiet."

Zack banged his head lightly on the wall. "Oh, come on. Give a little faith. I'm thinking of how to get our asses out of here anyway. Give me a couple hours and I'll have some-"

"Half-assed plan," Tifa answered, sitting up from the bunker. Zack sent a half-glare at the woman, who ran her fingers through brown hair. She gave him a reproachful look. "Oh, please. You've never been good with last-minute plans."

From the other cell, Aeris chirped, "He never was! I figured it was perhaps one of those manly things that couldn't be avoided. He's a smart boy, though... and he's loyal and doesn't try to do stupid things. He just tries to do the right thing."

"I thought you were going to be quiet?" Cloud made a sound akin to smacking his head against the wall, much like the ex-SOLDIER had done moments before.

"Meh, maybe later. Hey, Barret!"

The black man in the other cell grunted. "What ya wan', Spiky?"

"Watcha thinkin' 'bout?"

"Your chick's an Ancient. They go by the Cetra and know where da Promised Land is, righ'? Them Shinra scum's lookin' for this place so they can suck it dry. I only heard stories 'bout it and don't know if it exists…" He took a breath, then plunged ahead, "Aeris, is it all true? Is there some place the Shinra scum's gunna go rape so they get money? It's gunna all get sucked up by those fuckin' machines an' the Planet's gunna get weak and wither away. Ain't that right? Shit, I'm recruitin' when we get the fuck outta here! Y'all joinin' AVALANCHE and I ain't hearin' nuthin 'bout it. Even you, you, uh, dog."

"I am no canine, and I do not plan on following you around like some common mutt. I'm going home to my grandpa."

Barret laughed hysterically.

Red growled.

"Your gramps! Funniest thing I eva' heard!" the black man chortled.

"And why is that funny?"

"No reason… ha ha ha."

Zack smacked his hand against his head. Barret was certainly one of the more stupid people he knew. Who would tease a beast that could kill you as you slept? Certainly Barret didn't think in the long term.

"How long do you think we're going to be stuck in here?" Tifa asked, turning on the cot to look at Zack.

"Not sure how long they'll keep us here. I know that we won't have to deal with Hojo until tomorrow at best, with him being unconscious and all, but I couldn't tell you how long until they ship us off to the labs or execution chambers. Hope it's soon. I want to get outta here and kill that damn President."

"Would this be about that woman the President spoke of?"

"Yeah," he conceded. "Cissnei was one of the girls I dated way back when. Uh...before Aeris. A good lady, that Cissnei. Never thought they would kill their own Turk..."

Cloud answered. "Of course they would, Zack. They go through most Turks faster than wine at a dinner table. Remember the infamous Vincent Valentine? They said he disappeared but there's no way a Turk just disappears. They either die on the job or Shinra gets rid of them."

"And who told you about Valentine?"

"Don't remember. I think it was one of the older cadets. But it is true - Shinra has no problem getting rid of you when you lose your use."

"Well," Zack stood up, going over to the door, "I think Valentine must have been boning someone he wasn't supposed to. He was the best, according to all those records and there's no way he would just keel over and die. My friend... he told me a little about Valentine. Never sat with me right. Anyway, you better get to sleep. When those guys get here, I want to be ready to beat their faces into the ground. 'Night everybody."

Zack sat back down, this time against the door, and leaned his head back. Sleep would overcome him soon, he knew.

* * *

There was blood all over the floor. That was the sight that greeted him when Zack woke groggily. Laying on the floor of the open cell, he was no more than three inches away from a puddle of blood.

"The fuck?" he opened and closed his eyes, thinking he was imagining things in his post-sleep haze. The blood didn't disappear but several black circles invaded his sight. He put one hand to the side, pushing himself off the ground, noticing too late that he'd placed his hand in the bloody mess.

He jerked his hand back. Granted, blood was a common thing, and he had gotten more in his mouth while training the younger crowd of SOLDIERs and now he was killing hundreds of army and SOLDIER men, but he hadn't expected there to be so much, especially on the floor. How could one human body bleed that much? How much did a body hold, anyway? Zack wiped off the red fluid on his pants, feeling the skin below shiver with displeasure.

It smelled of metal, Zack noticed as he wiped his fingers against his pants to clean them. The stench was overpowering in the hallway. Then, after a moment of standing in the center of the hallway, it registered that he wasn't in his cell anymore. A hallway smeared with blood, but it was still freedom.

He looked down the corridor to only see more red and the body of one of the night-patrol men laying on the ground, one of his arms a yard away. Zack felt his stomach curdle. Who could have done this?

"Tifa," he took a step back, whispering the woman's name. After a moment of silence he raised his voice louder, making her name echo in the close confines.

"What's happening?" Tifa yawned, her eyes barely opening, speech still slurred from sleep.

"Somebody just let our asses loose and killed the guard outside," Zack said in a rush. "I need you to go get Aeris and Cloud. I'll take care of Red. Don't want you stepping on his tail and him biting off your face." He added the little joke to the end when he saw the woman's wine eyes widen.

"Somebody did what?" Tifa squeaked, jumping from the cot. Before the ex-SOLDIER could repeat himself she was already out the door. Her scream bounced off the walls of the Shinra prison, eliciting several grunts and one sleepy "Hmm?" from either Aeris or Cloud.

Zack rubbed his hand on his pants again before heading to the cell Barret and Red occupied. There was an incandescent bright green light over the door. When he touched it, it swung open with a small buzz.

"Get up. Someone's gone and killed the guard."

* * *

Blood was a horrible sight in the morning but it was even worse when it was accompanied by a few dozen bodies sprawled around the floor. Grisly tracks led up the stairs. It seemed as though the perpetrator had dragged a body, still bleeding, on his sword along the ground. There was more gore than Zack had seen in a long time.

It seemed to be the same with the others. Even Barret looked away from the body of a twenty-something woman whose head was only still attached because of a thin layer of skin.

"Ain't righ'," Barret said as he walked by, his face a little more sullen.

Aeris had looked at each body with pity, a few tears prickling her emerald eyes - tears of sympathy, Zack thought. Aeris always thought of others; the man's family would now no longer have a source of income, and children would be fatherless. She had seen many things in her life, more brutal than a man laying in his own blood, but it didn't stop her feeling of duty to somehow help. He hated seeing her cry but there was no way to shield the woman from the mess of mutilated bodies. There were too many and she wouldn't have any of it.

"Cloud, come help me with this, would you?"

The ex-SOLDIER grunted, pushing a desk out of the way. It seemed the people, who were now lying in their own blood, had attempted to block their attacker by piling office furniture in front of the doors, barricading themselves in. It hadn't worked and served as a nuisance for Zack to move out of the way, now that the group wanted to get through.

"Sure." the blond jumped over a broken chair. "Wonder how all of this happened."

Zack grunted. "I don't know about you, but I'd like to keep my head on my shoulders, otherwise I'd be chasing the sucker who did this down."

The two pushed the desk into a corner, allowing the others to pass. "Well," Cloud said, "I don't care as long as they got Hojo. Sick bastard."

"Highly doubt it. The Turks probably got him down to the infirmary. It's on the 42nd Floor. Doubt this whack-job started his killing spree all the way down there."

Zack walked forward, motioning for Cloud to follow.

"But," Cloud pointed out, "we've gone up two floors and there's still blood everywhere. Maybe he killed the President. I mean, look, the trail leads upstairs."

Zack noticed he was right; the blood trailed up the left stairway, to the room where Zack had been only hours before.

"Let's hope tha' scum's dead. If he ain't I'm gunna kill him wit' my own hands." Barret shot a few bullets into the large glass windows (there was a trail of blood that led to the window and up the side of the wall) and rather than shattering the glass, the bullets went straight through, leaving holes in their wake. Zack could have shoved his thumb through several of them.

"Well, we'll find out in a few minutes. Get yourselves ready," Cloud said as he pulled out his katana.

Zack followed his lead, drawing his Buster Sword. The boy had a point - if they went up there and saw the attacker, there was a pre-emptive strike waiting to happen. The guy had to be pretty damn powerful.

"Cloud's right. Should we happen across this murderer, I am not sure we will fare well without preparation," Red added, his fire-tipped tail glowing as it swished around Zack's knees.

"Bet the guy's high-tailed it outta here by now. I sure as Holy wouldn't stick around after killing a whole lot of people. I don't need to deal with more than one loon today."

"I guess we'll find out when we get up there," Aeris said, already sliding her materia out of her wrist bangle.

* * *

The floor was quiet.

The blood was gone.

Masamune was sticking out of the President of Shinra Electric Company.

"Fuck me!" Barret swore, "Shinra's dead. The fuckin' prez of Shrinra Inc. is dead."

Zack couldn't have put it better himself.

* * *

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	11. Interlude Three: The Time for Presents

**Edited 06/16/2012**

* * *

Interlude Three: The Time for Presents

Tseng took a sip of his coffee, ignoring Reno, who was standing on his desk stringing up Christmas lights.

"Do you even know what Christmas is?" Tseng asked the red-head, who shrugged his shoulders.

"It's an old tradition. Don't know much 'bout it, but I do know this fat-ass man in a red suit called Santa Claus squeezes down my chimney and gives me a shitload of presents." Reno pulled a broken cigarette from his pocket and shoved the filter into his mouth. Again, his hand dug into his pocket, this time producing a plastic lighter.

The older Turk took another sip of coffee. "You're a fool. I will send you the bill when you're charged with putting all of those holes in the ceiling. Christmas decorations? Bright, oversized lights that randomly produce colors and flick on and off annoyingly? A fake Christmas tree in the corner?"

"But they _are_ pretty damn cool." Reno inhaled a large amount of smoke. "Got you a present."

Tseng's eyebrows rose drastically. "Did you? I'm sorry to disappoint you, subordinate, but I don't take well to bribery."

Reno waved his hand in front of his face, nearly upsetting the balance of the desk. "Eh, no bribery. Wanted ta get my good ol' boss somethin' fun for Christmas. 'Tis the season to be spending money on shit anyway, right?" The red-head jumped from the desk, letting the unstrung Christmas lights go plummeting to the ground in an array of multi-colored brilliance. He ducked beneath his desk and pulled out a misshaped ball. The wrapping paper was tacky and covered with tape. It also weighed quite a bit, Tseng discovered when Reno threw it at him.

"Watch yourself," Tseng snarled as he caught the object.

"Oh, come on. It isn't like you weren't going to catch it anyway," Reno scoffed, slamming himself down into his chair. "And, you know, you're welcome."

Reno watched giddily as the man opened the present. When he did, it rolled across the table, clattering into his coffee mug.

"Get it?" Reno started, looking at the paperweight, "I know you needed one for all your shit, plus I know you like the chick in the picture."

Tseng scowled. "Why the hell is Aeris's head Photoshopped onto a model's body?"

"Because you _know_ sis has to look something like that underneath that nun outfit." Reno quickly grabbed the other bag underneath his desk and sprinted out of the room with barely enough time to dodge the on-coming paperweight.

* * *

Reno held the bag close to his hip, and knocked on the door.

"Wait a sec," the person on the other side grumbled.

"Okay, toots, but you've gotta come get your Christmas present," Reno said in a sing-song tone, whistling, "and I _know_ you're going to like it."

The door opened and the SOLDIER ran a hand through his raven hair. "What is it now, Reno? I hear talk about presents."

Reno dangled the gift in front of the boy, who looked over it eagerly. "Now, why don't you invite me in? It's rather rude to have me standing outside of this place with you just lookin' so cute and stuff."

Zack rolled his eyes but obliged, moving over to the side to let the red-head into the apartment. "Do you want something to drink?" he asked.

"Vodka, straight up," came the instant reply. Reno tossed himself onto a nearby couch, putting the present on the coffee table. "And you aren't even supposed to be able to get your hands on alcohol. Sneaky bastard."

"Hey, I didn't sneak it from anyone. If I remember correctly, it was _you_ who left the bottle here. Anyway, I want that cigarette," Zack said as he handed a half-full glass of straight vodka to the Turk, at the same time snatching the recently lit cigarette from his open mouth.

"Yeah, yeah, just steal my fuckin' cigarette." Reno didn't mind though; he had his drink and there was little more important than the potent beverage.

"Don't bitch because you can't get everything you want," Zack pointedly stated, taking a deep drag on the cigarette. "I don't understand why you smoke this expensive stuff. Sure you've got the money, but it's a waste to spend it on shitty ciggys. "

Reno shrugged his shoulders. "Eh. I like 'em. Don't give much of a damn if you do, too. Anyway, how was the date with that secretary?"

Zack took another puff. "Interesting. Thought she was a cutie but a complete psycho. Wanted to put chains on my wrists and let her cat scratch my back. Normally I'm up for just about anything but that was goin' a bit too far."

"What, you ain't into S&M?" The red-head could barely keep in a chuckle. "You never seem ta stop surprising me, toots." He then proceeded to finish the alcoholic beverage, smacking down the glass with one hand, grabbing Zack with the other.

"So you're in one of those moods," the SOLDIER grumbled, pushing himself to an upright position. "At least let me open my present before you pounce on me."

The red-head sighed dramatically. "Well, if you insist. Can't keep this up all day and I do think you'll like your present..." Presents were almost always interesting, whether they be gag presents like Tseng's, or not-quite-gag presents for Zack. With equal parts curiosity and trepidation, the dark-headed SOLDIER unwrapped the gift.

"Well, what do you think?" Nipping the teenager's throat, Reno had to admit his present was a little tasteless.

The boy coughed lightly. "Well, considering the fact you were the one to set me up with that secretary, I kinda had a feeling you were testing out the waters, right?" In his hand swung a pair of thick handcuffs. Quicker than Reno even thought possible, the SOLDIER snapped it around the red-head's wrist then attached the other to the metal table.

"Son of a bitch!" the Turk snarled.

Zack laughed, pushing the man off the couch and onto the ground. "Well, looks like I'm topping tonight."

"You're a bitch."

Zack laughed, already undoing his jeans. "Nope. Sorry to disappoint but you're going to be my bitch tonight."

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	12. Interlude Four: It's a New Year

**Edited as of 06/16/2012**

* * *

Interlude Four: It's a New Year

Rufus took a sip of his champagne carefully, allowing the bubbles to slip down his throat. The clock had struck midnight and the streets of Junon had never been louder. Confetti sprinkled the ground below, the tapered hats and loud horns honking as people screamed and kissed their lovers.

The Shinra heir never enjoyed this particular holiday simply for the fact that his resolution had yet to take place. It was the same one he chanted each year at the stroke of midnight, washing it down with the over-priced champagne his father's money bought. The taste was of money, thick and corroding, the paper and ink seeping onto his tongue and down to his stomach. If there had ever been a taste Rufus hated, he would admit, only to himself, that it was the taste of that champagne every year, swallowed along with those same words.

"This year, the old man is going to die."

* * *

Tseng loathed the New Year's parties he was forced to attend. There was always expensive finger food and beverages, women wearing ridiculously expensive dresses, children playing with expensive toys and the President drowning himself in wine with Scarlet, who was not the most expensive thing in Shinra.

Tseng picked up a well-crafted flute glass and gulped down the entire contents. "May this year bring a way of me getting out of the next party I am forced to attend."

* * *

Aeris sat at the kitchen table, fiddling with her napkin.

"Are you alright, dear?" Elmyra asked, pulling the cake out from the oven.

Aeris looked up, smiling. "Mom, I'm fine. Just sad that Zack couldn't stay for too long. They're shipping him out to Junon for a little while. I'm happy he came by though."

Elmyra smiled, slicing the cake, putting a piece on a plate before handing it to her daughter. "Well, there will be other New Years'."

As Aeris took a bite, she slowly said, "Well, next year I hope that Zack will be able to eat your cake too and celebrate with me."

* * *

Cloud lay in his cold bunker, staring at the watch on his wrist. Grunts weren't allowed out of their rooms after nine and so Cloud had decided to stare at his watch until it clicked over to midnight.

He looked away after a moment. The watch was blinking 0:00.

"Next year I'm going to spend my New Year's with someone besides myself. I'm going to be a SOLDIER."

* * *

Sephiroth stood next to Angeal and Genesis, the trio holding small shot glasses and clinking them together.

"It's been an interesting year," Sephiroth murmured, swinging his head back, taking in the alcohol. He placed the glass back on the table near the bottle of vodka.

"Yes, it has been," Angeal agreed, drinking half of his portion, then after a moment swallowing the rest. He didn't let go of the glass.

_"'Legend shall speak  
Of sacrifice at world's end  
The wind sails over the water's surface  
Quietly, but surely'"_

Genesis took a small sip of the vodka before dropping it down to the ground, the liquid sloshing over the floor mixed with pieces of glass.

"_Loveless_."

* * *

It was their first real kiss.

Both holding cheap cans of beer, they kissed as the television proclaimed it was the new year.

Reno was content.

Zack was content.

For once, they sat together peaceably.

* * *

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	13. Masamune

**NOTICE: As of June 1st, this chapter has been betaed by the amazing unwinding fantasy! I love her, and she makes this story so much better. I'd die without her. **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa- do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun.

* * *

Chapter Twenty One: Masamune

"Sephiroth?"

Zack knew the sword from the moment he laid eyes upon it. The strange, ethereal glow of the blade, the carvings on the hilt, twisting and turning in sharp points. He had, on more than one occasion, nearly fell to that sword. Now, it wasn't _his_ body impaled, but that of the President of Shinra Inc. Funny, Zack realized, how your own weapons could turn on you.

"Looks like most of your problems just died, Barret," the ex-SOLDIER joked. "Well, except for the fact that Shinra is probably going to think it was us who did it. We're poor bastards." Zack looked down to the ground, a few small laughs racking his body.

"We should get out of here before someone shows up and quest--" Cloud started, but was cut off by an obnoxious squealing. "What the fuck?"

Zack looked up where the sound had come from -- behind a stone column -- and on instinct grabbed at the moving object. Palmer squealed again and fought for freedom.

"Barret, come help me," Zack grunted when the fat man kicked at his leg, catching his ankle with the bottom of his expensive leather shoe. The black man glared menacingly, enough to daunt Palmer into standing still for a moment, before grabbing the horrified man's opposite arm. "So, Palmer, haven't seen your fat-ass in years. Care to tell me what you saw?"

"Palmer, as in the Head of the Space Exploration Department?" Aeris asked Red, who stood near her feet.

"One of a kind, this man," Zack interjected. "Bastard if I ever knew one. Also has a thing for things that would make any human's stomach churn. Isn't that right, Palmer?"

"Please don't kill me!" he whimpered pitifully. "I don't know what I saw, I swear!"

Cloud pulled out his katana. "So you have no clue why a sword is poking out of your boss's back? I'd say you did it but you seem to be too much of a spineless coward."

Zack squeezed a little tighter. "My thoughts exactly, Cloudy-boy. Now, tell us what you saw or I swear Cloud will have some fun with that sword and I won't be able to stop him." The blonde looked deranged enough to scare Palmer, who shrank from the hatred in Cloud's eyes.

"It was Sephiroth! I swear it was him!"

Zack loosened his grip on the pig's arm for a brief moment, giving Palmer the window of opportunity to break free of both Barret and himself, running past Cloud. He flapped his arms wildly, running toward the balcony where a helicopter was already landing.

"Who in the world could that be?"

"No clue, Aeris, but it can't be good. There's no way everyone knows about Shinra being dead," Tifa said, motioning to the window. "It looks like whoever it is knows Palmer."

Zack sighed. There was only one person he could think of who would be at Shinra at the worst possible moment. "Rufus," he informed the group. "I'm willing to bet both my nuts that's Rufus Shinra. Cold-hearted bastard, that one."

"Aw, shi'. Thought Shinra'd be over now tha' this waste o' flesh is dead. Now I gotta worry 'bout some punk-ass kid wit' sum' God Complex runnin' 'round?" Barret spat onto the floor.

"I heard no one's ever seen him bleed," Tifa started.

"Or cry," Aeris finished softly.

Red's voice was passive. "He's going to become the next president now that his father's passed on. I feel your problems are only beginning."

Zack turned to hear what Cloud had to say but the sight before his eyes was a tad unnerving. Cloud stood behind the dead Shinra president, mildly pulling at the sword embedded in the flesh.

"I don't think it's going to come out, Cloud," Zack wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"But Zack, that's Sephiroth's sword. Why is Sephiroth's sword stuck in the president's back?" There was the barest hint of hysteria in the blonde's voice. "Sephiroth couldn't do this, could he?"

"Sure Sephiroth could do that. He's a brutal monster with no soul." Tifa turned, giving Cloud a disturbed look. "After all, what he did to us was worse than this."

Zack wanted nothing more than to cover the woman's mouth to silence her, but that, he knew, would lead to more consequences. Zack couldn't deal with the repercussions of his refusal to tell Cloud the truth... Not yet, anyway. There were more important things to do, things that didn't involve telling your closest friend that his idol had wiped out his entire hometown, murdered his mother, nearly killed his childhood crush and then sentenced him and his friend to five years in a vat of Mako. No, it could certainly wait. The time for ruining childhood dreams was not now, especially with a blonde man standing at the edge of the heli-pad, tapping his foot impatiently against the granite ground.

"I've got an idea," Zack twisted the hilt of his Buster Sword in his hands nervously, "there's a new president out there that needs a lil' Avalanche welcome, right? Well, why don't we give him the warm welcome he's expecting?"

* * *

The air on the balcony was cold, tinged with the wetness of an oncoming storm and the slick winter wind. It soothed Zack's hot skin, even if he himself could not detect his own body temperature. There was the musky smell of Mako and dirt in the air, a smell that stuck to clothes. Coupled with the breeze, it made an odd juxtaposition.

Upon first glance, Rufus Shinra seemed to be a man of few words and piercing stares. His blue eyes were sharp chips of frozen water – puddles of rain frozen over. Zack remembered those eyes, the eyes of a calculated genius staring through him during the few and thankfully far between meetings he'd been forced to endure during his time as a SOLDIER First-Class.

Though the man wore white, it was not difficult to see how small his body was. Reno had once joked about the man, a teenager six years ago, that he could easily break if you touched him the wrong way. This was later proven false when Zack saw the boy take down six Wutaian ninjas with nothing more than a sawed-off shotgun, but in the beginning the violet-eyed man had agreed. Apparently the Shinra heir had learned from the best in the business.

Rufus stood staring over the side of the building. A dog, perhaps one of Hojo's experiments from the tentacles swinging from his skull, wagging like multiple tails, sat next to him. Rufus' strawberry-blonde hair was slicked back except for a stubborn streak in the front that blew in the wind. Except for the new, larger body frame, the man didn't look much different than he had six years before.

"I was beginning to think you would spend the rest of the night staring out that window." He flicked a cigarette, something Zack hadn't seen a moment before, from his fingers and over the side of the building. "Now, will you introduce yourselves or should I start randomly guessing from the brief information Palmer gave me?"

"A flower girl from the slums."

"A breeding experiment."

"Avalanche member, ya scum!"

"Same here."

"Shinra... something or other."

Zack took a step forward, meeting Rufus' chilly gaze. "Ex-SOLDIER, but you knew that already. So, Shinra, what are you planning on doing now that you have all of Midgar underneath your little manicured thumb? I never thought anyone could possibly do worse than your father, but since you went through all of that Turk training I wouldn't be exactly surprised. So, care to share your ideas with me and the crew?"

"Well, may I start off by saying that is _quite_ a crew. Now, on to more important matters, may I ask how you planned on leaving this building with your internal organs still in your body? Killing the President of Shinra does have its repercussions, though you won't see me complaining. After all, this has now given me sole ownership of the old man's assets, the city of Midgar with it. I believe Palmer mentioned something about Sephiroth, but according to the media he has been dead for years. Dead men don't get up and kill off the President of Shinra, do they, Fair?"

Zack saw Barret fly toward the Shinra heir, impulsive. With the sudden movement Rufus reached into his suit and pulled out his gun, pointing it between the Avalanche member's beady eyes.

"Tsk, Tsk. I figured you and your company would have some scrap of manners. Now, Wallace, control your temper. I was to begin my speech. Is it that difficult to listen to your new president?"

"You jus' the prez' 'cause your old man croaked!" Barret seethed. Zack wanted to roll his eyes at the actions of his boss but dared not show an undivided front with Rufus calculating every move.

Rufus smiled coldly. "That's how some of the most powerful men in existence have come around. Their fathers die, tragically some may say, and the heir takes power. My father ruled this world by money – I will be different. I will control this world with intense fear. There is no reason to waste money on frivolous people whose contribution to this world is nothing but making the Shinra Power Company stronger. Harnessing our SOLDIERs and Turks, I believe I can make this world bow down to their newest leader, to me." He turned his gun towards Tifa, who had taken a step forward.

The woman's voice was acidic, "Well, he likes to make speeches just like his father."

Zack looked over to Tifa, glaring sourly at Rufus, who continued to smile as if he had not a care in the world.

"I think his old man was just a little under his league though, don't you?" Zack hoisted the Buster Sword. "Now, it'd be best for you guys to go kick some ass out the door and get out of here as quick as you can. Think you can lead 'em, Barret, or should I make Red do it?"

"Why'd I do tha'?" Barret straightened, glowering at Rufus. "I wanna kick this puny little manipulatin' bastard's lily-white ass."

Zack resisted the urge to smack himself, already opening his mouth to explain it to the daft man, but Cloud beat him to the punch. "It's some big crisis for the Planet, Barret! Come on, we need to get outta here before the robo-guards and SOLDIERs show up," the blonde stated harshly, his Mako-blue eyes blunt.

_It's good to know that Cloud can at least pull his own, _Zack thought as he watched Cloud motion for the group to follow him. Despite the situation, he smiled at the blonde's ability to take charge when needed.

"Kick his rear and come find us," Cloud shouted as he ran by.

Zack nodded his head then turned to his opponent. "I plan on doing exactly what my good friend told me to do." The ex-SOLDIER smiled, showing his bared teeth like a wild animal.

* * *

The battle started when the Rufus sent the canine to attack, attempting to take a chunk out of Zack's upper thigh. He barely had the chance to move as the black beast's teeth snapped precisely where his leg had been nano-seconds before. The ex-SOLDIER wheeled back, delivering a swift kick to the beast's skull, sending the animal crashing into the side of the building.

During this time Zack was avoiding the bullets whizzing by his head, deflecting one with the Buster Sword. Rufus looked calm and collected, unmoving from his position on the balcony until Zack took his time away from the black beast and focused it on the newest President.

"So, Fair, ever thought of coming back to the company?" the blonde jeered as he let off several more bullets, unblinking when one of the shotgun shells grazed his left cheek. Zack dashed forward and thrust the blunt side of his sword at Rufus' legs. He barely avoided the crippling attack, jumping up onto the building's edge, pulling the trigger a few more times before jumping past Zack and landing close to the beast.

"Sorry, I kinda killed your doggie. Your parents should have told you not to play with things with shit growing out of their heads." Zack ducked left then lifted the Buster Sword to protect his face from another round of bullets.

Rufus sneered. "Dark Nation, why don't you treat our little SOLDIER to a bolt of lightning?"

Blue-white lightning bolts crashed into Zack's stomach, knocking the breath out of him.

"Well, that is all for now. I don't believe you even put a lasting mark on my body… though you don't seem to be fairing very well. Hmph, perhaps it would be best for you to simply give up if even I can defeat you. Oh, once-impressive SOLDIER First-Class, you have fallen into a pit you cannot scratch your way out of." RUfus tossed his blonde hair, not even a hint of sweat on his face. "Now, I believe that is my helicopter. It was an interesting meeting," the sneer widened then Rufus added, "Dark Nation, come."

A helicopter swooped down. Zack barely had time to curse before the President and his companion were safely aboard and fast drifting out of sight.

* * *

Zack had once been strong enough to kill behemoths by the dozen, destroy summon monsters thrown at him, even able to hold his own against the three Legends of SOLDIER. Now he was undermined by one puny blonde with a shotgun. He trudged down the stairs, seeing Tifa standing near the door, tapping her foot factiously on the ground, both arms crossed.

"Zack! Hurry up!" she yelled when she gained sight of him, prompting Zack to turn his moody walk into a slow jog.

"What're you doing here? I thought you were going with Cloud and the others," Zack panted, leaning up to see if the others were hiding somewhere behind the busty woman. They were not there.

The woman motioned for the door, "We've got to leave! Cloud just came by a second ago and told me that we need to get down to the first floor as quickly as possible. I don't have any keycard, so we're going to have to run it. You ready?"

Zack sheathed his sword, shaking his head. With his other hand he reached into his pocket, pulling out his wallet. Everything had been tossed into one of the storage closets near the cells. He silently thanked Reno and his bipolar tendencies, sliding the keycard out, dangling it in front of Tifa's eyes.

"I really don't like running around, toots."

* * *

**Please Review! **


	14. Mourning Period

**NOTICE: As of June 24th, this chapter has been betaed by the awesomely awesome unwinding fantasy! I've sold her my soul, really. **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun.

* * *

Chapter Twenty Two: Mourning Period

_So, at this moment, I really, really owe Reno Sinclair every damn thing under the sun, _Zack thought, looking out of the glass elevator, watching the darkness shrouding the sky. The air, as the descended back down to the first floor, seemed to become thicker, smoggier. The air weighed heavier on his shoulders and Zack fought the urge to stomp his foot on the ground, knowing he'd look like a child throwing a tantrum.

Tifa clucked her tongue. "So, who gave you that?" she gestured to the keycard, which in all of its plastic glory smirked up at Zack from between his honey fingers. It was beginning to grow warm and slick with a few drops of perspiration. Zack looked down at the small words -- 'Shinra Electrical Company' – and saw a few small bar codes and a number, followed by the name 'Sinclair, Reno'.

"Err, found it on one of the guards way back, y'know, when we got out of that little box with everything covered in blood. Yeah, I found it in the guy's hand and figured it would have some type of use, don't you think?"

_Liar, liar. You're not even that __**good**__ of a liar. Take some lessons from that Turk and maybe you won't suck so much, _his mind chimed in and the black-haired man had to restrain himself from slamming his head down onto the cold glass.

"Oh. Well, that's good. I think it's starting to rain." Tifa let the subject drop though Zack could hear the twinge of doubt in her voice.

Shrugging, he said, "Maybe you think it's raining but it probably isn't. In a nut shell, you're basically seeing all the pollution and shit they're sending into the sky. It makes it look like storm clouds but they never let out rain. They just make the place look gloomier than it already does."

Tifa was looking at him, a small frown marring her face. She opened her mouth once then twice until she just nodded and drew her eyes back outside. "Well, I remember how ugly my home was when they built that terrible reactor... The town had been so beautiful, so green and lush, even with the Nibel Mountains not too far away. Even the mountains looked pretty, in a haunting way, until the Shinra came. They took away the grass, the clean air and the crystal-clear water. They took away pools of blue. Do you understand what I'm talking about?"

_Pools of blue that Shinra took away. _

"I might not be a genius but I get your drift. What about it?"

Tifa pursed her lips. "You might not want to believe it, but those pools are fragile. The water can be corrupted and destroyed. I grew up with those pools, watching them grow from a small ditch in the road into a lake. I won't just let you take them. You're a good man, Zack but this isn't something you can handle."

_Pools of blue._

"But who said I would try to take them away? And who would I take them away from?"

"Well," she started, "I can see it in your eyes, even if you don't realize it. And they've been mine since I was a child and I don't like the idea of you trying to fight them from me. I like you, Zack, quite a bit, but this isn't something I'm going to give up on. Seven years of waiting hasn't changed anything."

_Shinra took away._

Zack smirked, shaking his head. "My hands are full, doll. Wouldn't try anything, anyway."

"Yes, yes, you would."

_Blue. _

* * *

When the elevator door slid open, Zack was greeted with the comical sight of Aeris, giddy with happiness, jumping up and down as Barret attempted to shoot holes into the walls, all bouncing off and clinking to the ground.

"It worked!" she smiled proudly, turning to Zack. "Simple magical extraction, something a child could do really. Draw the magic out of your attackers but what I did was draw it out of the building. The mako is feeding the structure of the tower."

"Erm, sorry to sound stupid, but what are you talking about?"

Aeris gave a brief laugh as Barret swore, lowering the gun. "Nuthin' gettin' through that sucker, Aeris!"

"Well, that's a relief! Thank you, Mister Barret!" she replied, waving her hands in the direction of the burly Avalanche member. Turning back to Zack, she continued, "I was able to extract a rather large amount of energy from the building -- enough to be able to keep this barrier up until Cloud comes back, at least."

The saliva in Zack's mouth dried before he could open his mouth. Cloud, where had he gone? Surely he wouldn't be stupidly heroic and try to take on all the SOLDIERs who must have been waiting outside. Cloud was strong but if a pipsqueak new president could take Zack down then it wasn't hard to think of what could best the blonde. Not to mention, the violet-eyed man's eyes shot up into his brows, Cloud hated killing. He wouldn't last two seconds outside, even if he was strong enough.

"What do you mean 'until Cloud comes back?' He didn't go out there, right?"

Barret answered. "Naw, shi'. You think I'm gunna let the lil' runt go runnin' out there and try an' take on that many guys? I might not like him sometimes but I ain't gunna let him go kill himself. Damn, you a bigger fool than I thought."

Tifa strode forward, looking around. "But where is he? And where's Red?"

Aeris smiled. "Cloud said something about stealing and Red figured it would be best for him to follow. I can't see Cloud as having sticky fingers, can you?"

"Well, I can actually." Zack smiled, "Shinra scum are taught how to steal, you know. Normally it isn't stupid things like money or anything but blueprints and weapons. Of course Cloud would know how to steal. He's pretty good at it -- or better than his shot at least. Guess we'll just have to wait a minute to see what he's got himself into."

Not two minutes later, a large blue truck bounded down the stairs with a petrified Red sitting in the back, bobbing up and down. A determined expression on his face, Cloud sat in the cab, fingers turning the wheel to keep the vehicle from tipping to either side.

"Stop this monstrosity!" Red yelled as was thrown about again. Zack had to restrain a deep, bellowing laugh.

"I am! Quit yapping!" Cloud gritted out. The truck swerved off the stairs and before it was able to crush anyone the blonde stomped his foot on the brakes, stopping a few meters in front of Zack.

"Nearly made minced meat out of me, Cloudy-boy. Don't think you should be behind the wheel of anything that has a motor. Everyone values their lives here." He tilted his head to watch a wobbly Red jump from the back of the vehicle, his hind legs shaking violently. "You okay there, buddy?"

Red snarled. "Perfectly fine," he sat himself on the floor to conceal his shaking limbs, "though I have met better drivers. Cloud isn't quite adept when it comes to anything that can move. I would suggest he be given a scooter. It would be the safest, easiest starting point."

"That's your opinion," Cloud said, opening the door to the truck. "I drive perfectly fine as long as it's on an actual road, not a flight of stairs. Pardon me for not being able to cater to your high standards."

Zack laughed again. "Aw, Cloudy's getting a little hurt by the big, bad doggy." He walked forward, smashing his hands against the blonde's protesting cheeks. "But Zacky won't let the mean little beast eat poor Cloudy-woudy."

"I don't think faces are supposed to bend that way," Aeris laughed.

Miffed, Cloud shook his head, catching Zack off guard. "I don't think Red's a dog. What I _do_ think is that Aeris isn't going to be able to keep this barrier up for much longer. It looks like it's already cracking." He pointed to the iron door, where a small materia-sized hole was beginning to form behind the barrier. "We should get going."

"But there's no way you're going to fit all of us in that truck," Tifa pointed out, motioning to the blue vehicle.

Cloud tossed the keys up into the air, then to Tifa. "Oh, I know that. I've handled everything, Tifa. You just need to drive the truck. I got Zack and me something else," and at this, the blonde grabbed Zack by the wrist, dragging him behind the truck.

A new motorcycle sat in the back of the truck, the black paint shining like onyx. The ex-SOLDIER felt compelled to kiss the shining black beauty though Cloud's presence and the inevitable teasing he'd get for it deterred him.

He must've been grinning because Cloud had a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "See, I'm not a total moron. I'll be driving, you'll get to swing your sword at the Shinra. That work for you?"

"I won't be able to drive her?" Zack stretched forward, petting the leather seat.

"No way I'm letting you have that much fun," Cloud said lightly though Zack knew the real reason. Forcing Cloud into a situation where he'd have to kill wouldn't be the brightest idea.

The blonde gestured in the direction of their companions, "You can get the others, right? I think there should be enough room."

* * *

Perched on the backside of the roaring bike, Zack brandished his sword, ready to attack at a moment's notice. The blue truck was a few feet behind, Aeris' keen eyes darting in every direction.

Zack mentioned the lack of enemies to Cloud. Without taking his eyes off the road, the blonde yelled over the rush of wind, "Who knows what they're thinking. We're nearly up to the highway and the place is deserted."

A few buildings passed by, all darkened. It was eerie, to say the least, Zack thought. Midgar was never this quiet; there was always something, no matter how minor, floating around the city. Drugs and prostitutes were more common below but on the Upper Plate there were secret rendezvous places for people selling out their companies to opposing businesses, upper-class men sneaking off to see their lovers, buildings which were considered to be brothels only if you walked inside. Both sides of the plate were equally dirty.

"They're waiting for the opportune moment, like they always do," Zack mumbled, tightening his hand on the hilt. "Just watch. When we get to the highway there's going to be dozen--"

"Looks like we've got company," Cloud cut in and pulled on the throttle.

The black-haired man jerked his head to look over his shoulder. "Oh shit, we were right."

Cloud's voice was strained, "About everything except for the dozen part. I'm going straight through them. Warn the others to just plow on after us and not stop for anything."

"Jeez, Cloud, make it sound like they're going to kill us," Zack whispered, not loud enough for the blonde to hear over the deafening exhaust and the rattle of nearly a hundred other motorcycles. He made a short one-handed signal to Aeris whose face turned ashen. The brunette turned to say something to Tifa, who then slammed her foot down on the gas, catapulting the blue truck into the next lane, past the bike and pulled into their lane.

"What in Holy's name are they doing!" Cloud bellowed as he quickly swerved to the side. Zack had to grip his thighs down to the leather to prevent himself from being forcefully bucked off. Carefully, he turned himself around, fumbling only once, so he could face the same direction as Cloud.

He leaned forward, putting his lips close to Cloud's ear. "They're going to be running their asses over with the truck so we can get by. Don't panic so damn much, Cloudy-boy." A few strands of blonde hair tickled Zack's face. Exhilarated, he smiled.

* * *

Zack swung his sword to the side, slashing the tires of yet another grunt's bike. The orange vehicle sped off to the side, colliding harshly with a guardrail and the grunt's body flew over the side. The same scenario had panned out so many times, Zack thought as he turned to see Cloud's hair streaked with the blood of their enemies. "Sorry 'bout that," he grinned.

"Quit making a mess." The blonde took his left hand from the bike and rubbed blood from his eyes.

"It isn't just me. How many damn bodies have you run over with this beast?"

"Too many to count. Now quit talking to me and swing your damn sword!" The blonde jammed his foot on the brake, angling the motorcycle to the right, narrowly avoiding another motorcyclist riddled with bullet holes in the process.

Zack turned back to the road, noticing the assorted colors covering the asphalt. "There can't be many left. Get in front of the truck so I can see if there're anymore up there."

Cloud obeyed, getting the motorcycle in front of the blue truck, the front of which was spattered with red. "Doesn't look like anyone's up there," he stated, "but we've run out of road."

"What!" the ex-SOLDIER shouted, sitting up. Several '**Danger! Do not enter!**' signs were hanging from the guard rails, signs that Zack barely had time to notice. Before his eyes, the road opened into air.

"Shit!" Zack yelled as the bike screeched to a halt a few feet away from the edge. The heavier truck slid past and stopped less than an inch from the sudden drop, every face in the vehicle looking pasty white. That wasn't what worried Zack though. Pursuing them came a large mechanical beast, large guns equipped to its arms rolled, the end spikes leaving gaping holes in the highway.

After a brief moment, Zack jumped from the bike, Cloud snapping up, his katana already poised before his body. An enormous fireball few from the monster's arm. The truck's occupants scattered, vacating the vehicle at super-sonic speed. When the fireball hit a moment later, the entire vehicle burst into flames.

"Use Ice and Lightning!" Zack yelled at the women, "You aren't going to be able to land a punch on this fucking beast." Aeris nodded, popping out a deep green materia, her eyes already shut in concentration. Tifa, on the other hand, tossed a piece of materia to Red, who caught it in his mouth.

Barret was already shooting various holes into the robot to little effect -- one of its arms was reflecting an enormous amount of the lead back at the group. "Aw, shit!" Barret yelled, taking cover near the truck's remains.

Zack turned to give orders to Cloud until he noticed the blonde was already in front of the monster, his eyes filled with blue electricity, katana a blur. The robot gave an awful lurch to the side, releasing a sound close to nails screeching on a chalkboard. It was a familiar sound, one Zack had heard in the reactor. Was it just him or did all Shinra-made robots create a Gaia awful sound when they were forcefully attacked?

Four spells whizzed by Zack's head as he pushed the sword into the gaping hole Cloud had created, a chunk of ice narrowly missing his head. He pulled the Buster Sword from its prey. Barret blew more bullets into the hole Zack had just enlarged, making the ex-SOLDIER shout a quick, "Watch where you shoot that shit!" as another bolt of lightning crashed near him.

"Argg!" Cloud yelled, the lightning-bolt shredding the insides of the monster, one last fireball being launched at the blonde. Zack tried to grab the blonde, to pull him away from the heat, but his body was sent reeling back from the force of the impact.

The Roller Ball shot back, its internal wiring exploding, the blue sparks slashing out from its center. It was dead, or at least disabled, but that was something Zack was not worried about. The crumpled body on the ground surrounded by fire was more important than the dead robot.

"Shit, Cloudy!" Zack yelled, watching Aeris send an ice spell at the fire, causing thick smoke to spew from the dying embers. "Shit, what was that?"

A deep cough came from inside of the smoke. "Moron," the voice grumbled, "it was a fireball, if you hadn't noticed."

Zack reached forward, his eyes and nose filling with the dark smoke, and grabbed blindly for Cloud's body. "You in there Chocobo-head?" His fingertips touched skin -- Cloud's hand, Zack noticed after a second -- and he pulled at the blonde.

"No, Zack. I'm hiding in the car, waiting to go home."

It was good to know the blonde's attitude hadn't disappeared.

The second thing the black-haired man noticed was that the ends of Cloud's hair were fried and black soot was covering his face. There were cuts adorning the blonde's body and a gouge in the purple material of his shirt.

"You aren't dead!" Aeris clapped her hands together, summoning a green light to caress Cloud's battered form. "Thank goodness! You had me worried for a moment."

Cloud grumbled under his breath. Zack discerned "stupid fire" and "I'm not gonna to die. I'm not that weak."

"Aww, Cloud, don't whine so much. Your face gets all scrunched up. Makes you look like an old man," Zack mocked. "And she's right, you know. I thought you were going to become a plucked Chocobo. They taste good, but I'd be kind of afraid of eating you. Too many bones."

Cloud rolled his blue eyes.

_Blue._

* * *

**Please Review! **


	15. Marked

**NOTICE: This chapter, as of June 24th, has been betaed by the great and almighty unwinding fantasy. Thank her, because even with my groveling, I'll never be able to do it properly. **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life. End of story.

* * *

Chapter Twenty Three: Marked

**Do you remember anything now?**

"_I really hate when you flirt with those women. It makes me feel inferior, like I do not belong with you." Aeris folded her hands in her lap, green eyes avoiding his face. "I understand; Tseng has told me about you, that you're a real 'ladies man', but I don't see how I fit. I'm not special or beautiful." One hand moved delicately from her lap to the flower basket beside her. _

**You seem to be getting worse with time.**

_Battlefields were never warm. There was a lingering scent of death to them, a scent of freedom snuffed out like a candle. Smoke billowed up from the trenches as the Shinra burned their dead. It was the one time that never changed from day to day, the cremating of the fallen SOLDIERs (grunts were not worthy of such an honor.) There was a moment of silence then the war-torn bodies glazed in kerosene would be lit. _

_The opposing side thought it was dirty. _

**I think a child would do better at this than you. What do you think?**

_The room was dark and cold, the liquid that had once resided in the glass spilled over the floor, glass scattered on the linoleum. There were red splotches in the corner of the small kitchen. A knife was lying haphazardly on the floor. _

"_I killed him," he whispered, fingers clenched and eyes wide. _

"_You didn't mean to," the second teenager stated, staring out at the blood-stained knife. _

"_Yes, I did." There was a moment of silence between the three males. "I did mean to." _

"_**No!**_ _If you say that, you're guilty. We need to get rid of the body. Get the bleach out from under the sink," the first ordered, his trained eyes never leaving the corpse. _

"_But . . . but . . . but!"_

"_Listen to him right now; this isn't something you're going to be able to deal with on your own. If we can get the body out of here then everything will be fine." A chaste kiss was placed on the horrified boy's forehead. "Do not fight." _

_The other kneeled, touching his fingers to the corpses neck. _

"_Is he . . . ?"_

"_Dead?" he stated, wiping his fingers on the corpse's jacket. "Oh, I don't think you could have killed him any better, really."_

"_The end of the world is brought by the duel of the beasts. The Goddess shall fall from the darkest sky. Spreading her wings of light and darkness, she shall lead us to our paradise, along with her gift." _

"_Really, this isn't good time to be doing that." _

**I have to say, you are getting closer.**

* * *

Zack woke with a headache. His mind was swimming with strange dreams that made no sense, memories he knew nothing of, feelings he'd never felt. His hands felt like they had held the entire world for an eternity.

The sun was rising from the east, coating the city of Midgar in a spectacular glow. There were so many scenes, all beautiful in their own way, but the look of Midgar in all of its polluted glory would be a haunting image in Zack's mind, one that hinted at every unspeakable act in history. The way the sun hit the clouds of grime turned the scene surreal, like the city was not a part of this world but the next. Surely ugly things could sometimes be considered beautiful, even coated by that foul light.

Tifa tugged down her skirt from where it had begun to hike up at the back. Her hair was mussed. Dirt and grime ran in streaks down her face where perspiration had left its mark. Even looking like a warrior, bloodstains on her leather gloves she still looked so small. "You ready to go?" she asked. "I thought we'd just stop for a little while but you kinda fell asleep. We need to get going or we won't get to the next town for a week."

Zack nodded, destroying all traces of thought. Tifa's words rang in his skull long after they had been spoken. She, the woman who had screamed of hatred toward Shinra, hatred toward Sephiroth, hatred toward himself, wasn't as strong as she made herself out to be. Still fragile, even if her fingers could crack bones and her legs could deal lethal kicks. She had killed dozens. nowhere near as many as he had, but she was afraid of losing her 'pools of blue.'

'_Pools of blue'... what on the Planet was she talking about? _Zack thought. He had never indicated that he thought of Cloud in such a way. It was Cloud, a twenty-one year old man stuck in a teenager's body with a personality to match. It was Cloud, someone who Zack was willing to lay down his life for, a boy who, insane at the time, had saved his closest friend from the same fate. Heroic Cloud.

_Sure, I care about Cloud, but want to take him away from Tifa? Why would I do that? Cloud loves her, and I love Aeris. It's a simple as that. _

"Yeah, we should get going soon," Zack responded as he stood, looking around. "Anyway, where's Aeris?"

Tifa touched her hair. "Er, I think she and Cloud are scouting for monsters."

The ex-SOLDIER jumped up, already reaching for his sword. "Which way?" The voice he let loose was panicked.

The woman laughed. "Well, aren't you protective. They went north with Red. Don't worry about them. They aren't going to get eaten by any rogue beast."

Zack's violet gaze turned northward, eyes skimming the distance critically. "Hey, 'protective' is my middle name. Wouldn't be me without it, now would I?"

"That's for sure."

* * *

"You know, this walking is really boring," Cloud commented, scratching his head.

Zack continued to push forward, not looking behind. "Aw, I dragged your ass through this place. The least you could do is walk it. Has anybody dropped dead yet?"

A muffled reply came from Tifa, "So tired. Need water."

"Water. Food," Aeris answered. "Sleep."

Barret grunted.

Red, who was the only one besides Zack and Cloud who didn't look about to pass out, didn't say anything, but he was panting lightly.

"This has gotta suck for you. Your race doesn't have sweat glands, now do they?" Zack joked, jumping up a little. There hadn't been much talking -- even teasing made some type of sound. The quiet, open road was haunting and… Cloud was right. It _was_ boring.

Red glanced up. "Correct. Our race does not have said glands, thus we do not sweat."

"So what exactly _is_ your race?" this was Cloud.

"We are a select few, a dying race. A mix between human and Gi, a neighboring tribe of ferocious monsters who took human women and men as their slaves. In my great country, we are run by nature rather than tycoons. Our ways are much different than city dwellers. We are people who have withstood the difference of time and technology, of fairy-tales and reality." The red-furred beast took in a deep breath and let it out with a single pant. "Our race has dwindled drastically. I fear one day it will end. I am, as the Professor has stated, the last known of my kind."

The air was stagnant, heavy with the knowledge Red had just imparted on Avalanche.

Red sniffed the ground. "Oh, pity is one thing I need none of. You questioned and I answered. It isn't as important as you seem to think. I will end up mating with a human, creating children. They will not be quite as powerful as possible but they should not be ashamed. The Gi race has ended, their wickedness destroyed and I, I am the last of their torturous deeds."

"So, you _can _have, you know, sex, with humans?" Tifa's voice was squeaky.

Zack snickered.

Red rolled his one good eye. "It isn't too hard to believe, is it? Cross-species are nothing new, I might tell you. Aeris herself is a cross-breed. SOLDIERs are not completely human. Still, you do not consider your friend Zackary a fiend. You should hold a belief that, even when one would look different than yourself, they are not different underneath. Blood should account for little in this world."

To prove a point, Barret snorted and said, "Yeah, an' your gramps ain't so differen', now is he?"

The red-furred beast growled, causing Zack to laugh. "Ignore big-head over there."

"'Big-head'? Wha' you talkin' 'bout, ya lil' punk? I'm the leader here and your ass better follow my rules."

Zack stopped walking, a small smile planted on his face. "You weren't voted in, Boss-man."

The rest of the travelers stopped. Aeris managed, "Zack's–_ huff_– right– _puff_– need–_ huff_– vote–"

"Votes?" Cloud questioned, his blue eyes drooping shut partially.

"Zack," Tifa mumbled.

"I wish to have no part of this," was Red's vote.

Aeris followed Tifa's example, "Zack," she said after taking in a few more deep breaths.

"Barret, I kinda think you lost." Zack took a few steps toward the older man, reaching to pat the man on the shoulder. "Do you take this as a graceful defeat?"

The Avalanche leader spat onto the ground. "Aw, shi'! Even you, Tif? Damn, gotta keep my cool; whateva', do what ya wan'. Don't come complainin' when Spiky gets your asses eaten by some wild beast."

"Wild beast?" Cloud interrupted before an argument to eventuate, "For you, Barret, I would suggest you watch your own behind. Red doesn't seem to be too fond of you right now."

* * *

Kalm was a town in what seemed to be a far-away nation to Midgar. The outside of the town was fields of vegetation, a nearby river feeding fish into the town. It was one of the bigger towns considering the dozens of small villages nestled between each city. Housing thousands of people, it was the biggest place within a few hundred miles and a mountain range.

"This place is so small," Aeris smiled, putting her fingers to her lips.

Zack nodded. "Oh yeah, this place hasn't grown at all. Still as small as it was back then."

"'Back then?'"

"Sephiroth." Cloud answered monotonously, his booted foot tapping on the ground, "The last time you were here it was because of Sephiroth, correct? I want to know... I want to know what happened at Midgar. I want to know why the president was killed and what Sephiroth has to do with it."

"I agree wit' Chocobo-head. I wanna know what the fuck is goin' on 'round here. Fuckin' presidents dyin', swords shoved in people's backs, Mako goin' through metal, I don't know what to do anymore. You've all gone fuckin' quack on me an' I ain't got no clue how to straighten things out."

"I know," Zack said softly, "I already have an idea. We better get to the Inn, I think it isn't too far away." He motioned to a rickety building a dozen or so meters away.

"You're going to tell us everything?"

"Yes, Tifa, I'll tell you guys whatever you want – okay, not everything because that would leave you feeling weird but I'll tell you most of whatever you want."

_Sometimes, being Zackary_ _Fair sucks. Cloud is going to hate me. _

* * *

**Please Review! **


	16. Bloodlust Condition

Author Notes: This would be a very, very good time to tell you that there are **EXTREME SPOILERS FOR CRISIS CORE**.

**NOTICE: As of June 24th, this chapter has been betaed by the beautiful, stunning and smart unwinding fantasy! I've given her my immortal soul as a place mat. **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life. End of story.

* * *

Chapter Twenty Four: Bloodlust Condition

The second floor of the inn was small. Three beds stood in one corner of the room, a small nightstand between each. There was a bureau in the corner and a small desk underneath the window.

Aeris sat on the floor cross-legged, picking at her dirty dress. "Zackary, I need you to buy some things later on. I'm aware we don't have much money, but we need some survival basics. The last walk was terrible: no tents, no food other than the wild things you and Cloud were able to catch, cold nights and rainy mornings. If we plan on doing anything more then it would be best for us to get some things," she coaxed.

"Sure, but why are you sitting on the floor?"

A tinge of pink suffused her cheeks. "I don't want to get it dirty," she squeaked, pulling at one of the mangled corners of her pink dress. The bottom button was missing, Zack noticed, a small, sly smirk spreading across his face.

"Well, you don't have to be in them, you know," the raven-haired man winked leisurely, watching the pink turn to a deep maroon. He leaned down, smelling her flowery brown hair. The pleasant hint of daisies he normally discovered when this close to her was gone, replaced with the deep musky smell of sweat.

"Don't joke like that, Zackary! The rest will be back soon," Aeris chided, her voice quivering. A memory of trying to coerce a girl out of her skirt and the resultant tongue-lasing he'd received from the her mother tickled the ex-SOLDIER. Zack was nearly unable to prevent a laugh from escaping his throat.

Instead, he shrugged and said off-handedly, "Hey, it isn't my fault they refused to sit down until they got some food. I'd be with them, but Tifa suggested I should stay up here in case someone noticed me. Really, what are they thinking? It's been, what, six years? They should be more worried about themselves. Kalm really isn't into travelers, especially a weird group like us." Zack stretched and stood. His feet carried him to the window, the curtains of thin cotton swinging in the breeze. Delicately, Zack pushed the material away, looking out at the vast expanse of town.

Contrary to what Zack had remembered, the town was much sadder, more disappointing, than it had been before. Time had taken away from the dying town and culture: the rich colors of the Kalmian's dresses were sun-bleached and dirtied by hard labor, the plowed land much less green, the fumes of pollution lingering overhead from the western breeze from Midgar seemed more prominent. Less people mingled in the town; more boarded-up homes and small businesses, more drunks. Zack had heard of a problem with the Mythril Mines, a place days away from whence most of Kalm generated money for the townspeople. Men would travel back and forth wielding iron picks and hard hats only to stumble back, half-dead from attacks by monsters that roamed inside. There were far more of these incidents nowadays, it seemed.

"So, I guess that's that. You don't want poor little Zack." He tried his puppy-dog face, bright eyes downcast. One hand moved to rest wistfully on the windowpane.

**Puppy, you've become a SOLDIER First-Class and you still chase after your own damn tail.**

Zack shook his head. Out of the corner of his gaze he saw Cloud and Tifa, both carrying large packages in their hands, Red, who had several brown sacks slung over his back and Barret with two large boxes on his shoulders. Cloud and Tifa were talking. They had uneasy expressions on their faces that the raven-haired man chose to ignore.

"You know I plan on going after Sephiroth, right, Aeris? It's going to be dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt."

She must have gotten up while his mind wandered because when he turned around the flower girl was standing in front of him, green eyes filled with compassion. She lifted her hand and gently traced her thumb along the skin beneath Zack's eye, feeling the contours of his face.

"I know," she admitted then her voice sharpened, "but I don't care."

* * *

Zack sat in the chair, gazing at the faces of his comrades. "I'm going to tell you this because I need you to understand why we did the things we did," he shook his head and corrected himself. "Why SOLDIER did the things they did. Believe me, this isn't the last crime Sephiroth will commit. I didn't even know he was still alive, but who am I to talk."

He paused. The others looked on, wordlessly urging him to continue.

"They all said me and Cloudy were dead, too." There was a quick intake of breath from the aforementioned blonde. Zack glanced a him, hating what he was about to do. "I'll explain what in Holy I'm talking about, but it's going to be a long-ass story. I suggest you get comfortable. There's no way of knowing how long this is going to take."

Taking a deep breath in, Zack began to explain.

* * *

_It was a cold morning. I remember vividly the thin wisps of breath in the air, the chill in my lungs. I was assigned to the Nibelheim mission after an incident in Midgar. An amazing SOLDIER First-Class known as Genesis had gone AWOL and I was one of many searching for him. There was no way such a strong guy could be taken down by a monster; there was more chance of the moon colliding with the Planet than of a legendary SOLDIER falling. I thought I killed him, but it hadn't worked out exactly as I thought it did. There was something weird going on with most of the reactors, so it was best to be safe than sorry._

_Genesis, Angeal, Sephiroth -- all three SOLDIERS, the strongest of their kind. Killing machines in the war against Wutai, or so the stories said, these three guys were able to bring the strongest world power at the time to their shaking knees. Ninjas, assassins, monsters; nothing could kill these guys. I've fought each of them and they would have killed me had I been just a smidge more unlucky, a moment too late in one move. People both feared and admired these guys, these so-called 'heroes' who civilians put on god-like pedestals. I thought they were heroes too. They were my idols. _

_I had known Angeal the longest: he was my commanding officer, my mentor, and, after many bruises, someone I considered a close friend. He didn't hang out with anyone besides his two friends and myself, always submersed in work, never wanting to get drunk or laid. I kinda thought he was a little too dedicated to his work, too dedicated to the other two… I don't know, intimidating. More devoted to his friends than the Shinra Company. He told me that Shinra was the means to an end, something akin to a stepping-stone to cross a lake. His friends had the same idea._

_Pride was an important thing to Angeal. His father had given his life to create the Buster Sword so he hated to getting blood on the beautifully crafted blade. Still, on more than one occasion that sword was the only reason I survived. I felt kind of bad the first time I killed someone with it after I had been gotten a hold of it -- I scrubbed the blood off, polishing and polishing until my whole arm ached._

_But on that morning as far as Shinra was concerned both Angeal and Genesis were the most wanted men on the Planet (the reports swarmed in that Angeal wasn't as dead as I believed him to be...) I cared, of course, risking my life on more than one occasion to try to bring Angeal back. He had sprouted a white wing, a beautiful innocent wing created from his mutated DNA. I knew only because I was a SOLDIER First-Class. Any weakness was mandatory to know, accept, and then to be used against them. _

_All for Genesis, his best friend. I had never had that close of a friend, a friend I was willing to die for. Genesis was sick, some horrible mutation, and Angeal was willing to go to the ends of the world to find out how to fix him. I remember Sephiroth, in one of his few really talkative moods telling me how they had found out about this mutation. _

_It had supposedly been a normal battle while the SOLDIER Second-Classes were gone. The training room was a place where most of their amusement spawned. It had been their usual bickering, Genesis quoting the play '__**Loveless**__' numerous times, spewing on and on about how he wanted to be a hero and that the play would give the three the powers of the world. Of course, I kinda zoned out, but I did understand that the fight became much more dramatic than it had started out, Sephiroth and Genesis dealing would-be fatal blows to one another. There had been an accident; Angeal thought that the two had gone too far, and to stop the fight he put himself in front of them, sword drawn. Genesis's sword sliced right through Angeal's Junior Buster and the shards gashed the auburn-haired man's shoulder open. _

_This wasn't a big deal. It was almost customary for one to walk out of the training room leaving it in shambles, lights and electronics whizzing and smoking, but this was worse. Even after seeing the professor, the wound wouldn't heal. I always figured one of the reasons Angeal had gone after Genesis was because it was his own sword, his own weapon, which created the entire problem. I'd never known that kind of guilt and I never wanted to. _

_The Nibelheim mission was supposed to be easy: get to the town, kill monsters, find out what was causing the monster population to spike and then get out. A pretty simple mission, one that really wouldn't need two SOLDIER First-Classes, but I wasn't going to judge. _

"_Hey, Cloud, you okay?" I asked the grunt, who was holding his stomach in pain, rocking back and forth on the box he was situated on. _

_The boy managed to grumble out a quick, "Unngh." _

"_Guess not. Why don't you take off your mask and get some fresh air. I can tell the guy in the front to pull over if you need to yack. We've got another two hour drive, right, Sephiroth?"_

_I looked inquisitively towards the Legendary General, who stared clinically at Cloud. "Should he vomit, I will not be cleaning it up. Best make sure you make it outside of the truck." His cat-like eyes were disinterested. He returned his gaze to the small book in his hand. _

_Cheerfully, I patted the teenager's thick mass of blonde hair. "See? He might seem kinda scary but he's more bark than bite, right?" The glare I received from the man caused my hand to drop. "Okay, maybe I lie a little, so what? Cloudy here needs to make sure he doesn't get sick anywhere near you. I remember An--" _

_I barely stopped mouth. Mentally, I started beating myself over the head with something blunt. _

_The sharp glare made me drop my eyes. Stupid thing to say considering every time the silver-haired General heard one of his comrade's names he winced. Never was I supposed to bring them up in front of others. If anyone had known of our attempts at protecting the two SOLDIERs, rather than our 'failure' of catching them, life would be unbearable. SOLDIERs who disobeyed orders didn't survive long, no matter their class. _

_After the war, many SOLDIERs ran from their crimes, petty crimes they would never be convicted of but ones that would haunt them. I had found one, broken down below the plate, living on the streets. He had disregarded all of his medals, given all of his funds away, and had turned into a drunk. I'd wanted to catch those renegades but that was before I saw him squandering for change to buy a can of soup. The desire left me the moment I saw his haunted eyes. _

_I gave him every gil on me, offering him a place to sleep and a warm shower. He shook his head no. Later, days after I saw him, the report came in about another AWOL SOLDIER found with a bullet in his brain. Suicide. I had given the man the money to buy a loaded gun. _

_Cloud was the one to shake me out of the trance. Retching noisily, he was barely able to get the back doors open and lean his head out the side. _

"_Aw, shit. He blew. Lee, pull the fuck over!" I yelled as I got to my knees next to the boy, watching the ground below slow to a stop. Cloud gagged a few times, a stream of sick streaming onto the ground. "Okay, get it all out. Next time we've got to get into a car don't let me force you into eating before going." _

_Cloud cocked his head back, spitting onto the ground. "Warned you," he mumbled, "can't eat." _

"_It would seem that your motion sickness is the least of our worries. Fair, I believe we have found one of those monsters." Sephiroth pulled out Masamune, pointing the thin tip in the direction of a large dragon that had just ambushed us. It growled and stomped its clawed feet. A stream of fire spewed from its mouth, incinerating another small monster nearby. _

_I winced. "Oooh, that doesn't look fun. Well, now I can at least try out my new materia!"_

"_Such a puppy, just like he said you were," the General jested._

* * *

"So that is how you know Cloud?" Red asked, his tail wagging back and forth.

"Yep," Zack answered, scratching his head. "I knew him before then though. I was on another mission to a place much like my hometown. Rugged area surrounding the place. Cloudy-boy was the only one able to stay at my pace. Funny because he was such a shrimp. Anyway, can I get back to the story otherwise it's going to take a century to get this finished."

Aeris nodded, "Zack's right. We should try to be quiet and listen."

"I'm hungry," Barret scowled.

"Not now, please." Tifa put her hands up in the air.

"Yeah, I think I'll go with Tifa. Now zip it or I'll throw you outta the window," Zack smirked.

* * *

"_I feel as if I have been here before," Sephiroth murmured, his silver eyes scanning the small town. There were a few dozen buildings, in the northern-most part a dark mansion loomed like a cloud of smoke in the brightness. The place had an uneasy feel to it, an uncomfortable ringing in the air, and the stench of mako invaded my nostrils. A few children looked out from their windows at the commotion. Some were quickly pulled inside by worried parents for their curiosity. _

"_This is your hometown, correct?" This question was directed at Cloud, who looked nervously around. "Please, do not stand there with your foot in your mouth. I am not a monster. Talk as you see fit."_

_I had to laugh at the nervousness the blonde exhibited. _

"_Er, yeah, this is my first time back here in quite a while. Looks a bit darker, but the air is still the same."_

_I coughed. "Damn, you've had an unlucky childhood, kid. This place reeks to high heaven. Probably would make Minerva herself sick." _

_Sephiroth gave a harsh smile. "You are right, Zackary. The mako smell here is pretty awful. So, how does it feel?"_

"_You talkin' to me?" I inquired. _

"_No," his answer was curt. "So, __**Cloud**__," drawling out the name, "how does it feel to be to your home? I wish I could know what it would feel like. I have no hometown." _

"_Wha'?" Cloud jerked his head and shoulders back. "What are you talking about? Of course you have a hometown. You had to have been born somewhere. Why don't you just ask your parents?"_

_At this, the silver-haired General laughed. "My mother? I do not believe that would be possible, as she has been dead since my birth. Her name was Jenova; from what I have heard she was a brilliant woman. I regret never having the chance to speak with her. As for my father," he cut himself off, raising his hand into the air as if to help catch his breath. His tone was cold when he finished with, "A father. How amusing. He is of little importance." _

_I wanted to ask him why, why was his father of no importance? Was he alive? Was he a runaway? Had he hurt Sephiroth? As far as records stated, Sephiroth had been in the Shinra military since childhood. Had his father sold his own son to the Shinra? There had been times when children were offered to the President for sexual and militia favors. _

"_But that is enough about myself. I believe you have family and friends that live here? I will give you permission to go see your loved ones." _

"_Um, can I bring along Zack before we leave, sir?" _

"_Zackary?" Sephiroth turned, his eyes glowing with mako. "Ah, yes. Fair can attend with you one night." _

_Cloud smiled. "Thank you, sir!" He quickly pulled on his mask, saluting before running off. _

"_You know, he has a lot of spirit. He'd be a good SOLDIER," I remarked as I took a few steps forward, glancing over at the taller man. "He actually reminds me of someone. From the stories at least." _

"_He wouldn't survive. You see spirits destroyed in the heat of battle. Once seeing it happen before your eyes, there will be no guilt greater. I suggest you keep him far away from the barren thought of SOLDIER." His lips quirked up. "An almost unconquerable spirit. But, they can break as easily as a rose."_

"_A rose?" _

_Sephiroth's gaze trailed the streets of Nibelheim, watching Cloud enter one of the many houses. I saw his eyes narrow. "Yes, Fair. A rose."_

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**Please Review!**


	17. Transcendentalism

Author Notes: More progression, and even more **SPOILERS FOR CRISIS CORE**.

**NOTICE: As of June 25th, this chapter has been betaed by the world's coolest human, unwinding fantasy! Yay! (Throws bouquet of roses) **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life. End of story.

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Chapter Twenty Five: Transcendentalism

"Wait, so you were there, Cloud?" Tifa questioned.

Zack felt a pit grow in his stomach when he saw Cloud wince roughly. The teenager had hidden himself behind a mask during that mission, the ex-SOLDIER remembered too late.

Cloud glared. "Er, well, yeah. I was there. Can we not talk about it right now? I don't think this is the right place for it." His eyes were cold.

Zack gulped, aware of how dangerous the blonde could be. "Uh, sure Cloud. Tifa, let's drop it right now, 'kay? I should get back to the story. It isn't like I'd forget anything that happened, but the faster we get this done the less Barret glares at me."

The aforementioned man glowered, lifting up a bag. "You ain't gunna shut it an' I wanna eat. I'm openin' it whether you like it or not."

"Oh, great. Just don't get crumbs all over the place. We still have to sleep here and I really don't want to be laying with a bunch of mice crawling over me. I wouldn't want to wake up with one of those things on my face.

"Anyway, where did I stop off at?"

* * *

"_Why don't you go find our guide? I do not think that is too hard for you, Fair," Sephiroth stated briskly, waving his hand to the Nibel Mountains. "I would manage to believe this appointed guide would be somewhere in the vicinity of the town. If you could bring him here, we can begin going over the plans for tomorrow."_

_I nodded my head, eyes scanning the street for the exact house that the blonde had entered a few hours before. "Well, I would, Seph, bu–"_

"_My name is not 'Seph', Fair. I suggest you correct yourself before I do it on your behalf. I will not control myself should my hands decide to choke you to death. Go and find Strife." His face held little emotion, yet both eyes were glowing like incandescent stars in the darkness. They twinkled, however, with amusement. _

_I feared him but admired in the same breath. "Sure, sorry sir. Didn't think you were touchy about you name, but __**whatever**__, good ol' __**Seph**__iroth." There was an accentuation on the beginning of his name and I smiled coyly when his eyebrows dropped, his mouth moving ever-so-slightly in the beginnings of a snarl. _

"_Just go!" His white teeth grinded together as a small frown line appeared near his eyes. _

_Frantically, I waved my hands in front of my face to protect myself from his glare. "Okay! Okay!" I stumbled forward, past the legendary General. "Just thought you should know you've got these horrible crinkles around your eyes. You may wanna get someone to put some chemicals in there so you can, I don't know, get rid of those lines. I mean, you're looking more like my mother every day! Even with that stubble on your chin!" _

"_Fair, I cannot grow hair on my chin." The man was in the process of pulling out a red materia in his bangle, his eyes glimmering warningly. "And I believe it would be best for you to run. Now." _

_I laughed as I took off down the road, a silver mist following behind me. _

_

* * *

_

"_Heeellllllllloooooo! Anybody hooooommmmmmmme?" I yelled, knocking on the door to a small, one-story home, the red coloring of the brick fading to a dull pink. This was the house Cloud had entered, I knew. For one, the window revealed a scene of Cloud being smothered with kisses, his cheeks flaming red, lipstick smudged across his pale skin. He looked like a baby, being cuddled, covered with lipstick only a mother could wear. _

_The woman let go of her son, her bright blue eyes shining with unshed tears and looked over to where I stood. She waved through the window. She whispered something I was unable to hear to the blonde, who muttered and shook his head. _

"_Aw, don't do that, Cloudy!" I yelled, sure he could hear my voice through the thin glass. He rolled his eyes in what I could assume was exasperation, pointing his finger forcefully at the glass, a rude gesture if I had ever seen one. "Oh, don't give me that. I need you! The boss is gonna kill me if I can't get you to the Inn. We're supposed to go over some plans and he figures that since you've been here for like, three hours, you can come back now. Wait, why's your mom still smothering you!"_

_Cloud walked towards the window and pushed the glass pane up, the force of the gesture betraying his irritation. "Can you repeat yourself? There's a hearing-impaired couple a few houses down that may not have heard you." He gestured to a few neighbors dotting the road, who had stopped their daily activities to point fingers and stare. "See?"_

_I waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever. Get your butt moving or I'm going to have to deal with Seph trying to_–_"_

"_His name isn't 'Seph', you know. He'll kill you if he hears you calling him that."_

"_Yeah, yeah; it isn't like he hasn't tried doing that today anyway. I mean, I just ran for my life, from him and his damn summons. Fuckin' huge rock trying to kill me. Now, if you could get your butt moving, I'd appreciate it. Oh, sorry Mrs. Strife for coming and stealing your son. I know you haven't seen him in a while but he has to do some work. He'll be back in a little while, I __**promise**__."_

_I took a good look at the woman and realized who Cloud took after. Her bright blonde hair hung in an unruly ponytail, sticking up from the back. Their facial characteristics were very similar: they both had a small nose and petite frame. The woman's hands were beautiful, exactly the same shape as Cloud's though lacking calluses from training. But the thing that most shocked me was her eye color, the clearest blue ever created._

_Cloud's mother smiled, and from the few warm lines that began spreading around her mouth and eyes it was obvious she made the gesture often. Something she didn't share in common with her son then. "I understand, just make sure my baby comes back soon. I'm planning on making a big feast once I'm able to get the butcher to buy the specific cut of meat I've requested. You're welcome to come as well; it's so nice to see Cloud has such good friends. You can tell me all about the girls my boy's been sneaking off to see."_

_The teenager blushed. "Mom, there is no girl." His protest fell on deaf ears. _

"_Oh, of course the girls are lining up for my baby. I still say you need an older, more mature woman to take care of you, but I trust any girl you choose is good enough for me. Now, Mister…?"_

_I stuck my hand through the window. "I'm Zack Fair, ma'am, SOLDIER First-Class and your baby's best buddy. Ain't that right, Cloudy-boy?"_

"_Yeah, sure, whatever you say, Zack." The blonde turned to his mother, pecking her on the cheek. "I have to go. I'll be back as soon as possible, okay? That's a promise." _

_The woman put her hand in her pocket and retrieved a handkerchief. "Okay, baby, but come back soon. Just stand still for one more second so I can get some of this lipstick off of your face. I think this calls for some pancakes in the morning for you and your comrades. Stop by before you leave for some pancakes and potatoes, alrighty?" this last comment she directed at me. I nodded brightly while she went about putting the now-soiled garment back in her pocket. _

"_Oooh, food!" I clapped my hands, eliciting a short burst of laughter from the woman's throat. "Thank you, ma'am! The food Shinra gives is kind of crummy and no one's eaten anything but protein vomit-inducing food for months. I'm sure Seph_–_"_

"_Sephiroth," Cloud corrected._

"_Er, yeah, him, will appreciate it too. Now, come on!" I grabbed hold of the blonde's grunt uniform, pulling him through the window. I was pulling him past the houses, only stopping when Cloud's mother stuck her head out the window. _

"_Next time use the front door!" she giggled, waving her hand in goodbye. _

_

* * *

_

"_You_ _took him from his window?" _

"_Well, you told me to get him so I did it. I don't see what you're complaining about. I got him and everything is a-okay!"_

"_Grevers, get the portfolio_ _from the desk. I feel as if the sooner we get on topic the easier it will be to ignore Fair." The General pointed towards the waiting manila folders._

_The young grunt shook as he stuttered a reply, jumping up to retrieve the folders scattered hap-hazardly across the top of the desk. "Sir, yes, sir!" _

_I grabbed a small pile of folded papers from the foot of my bed and began sifting through them, searching for one with the data for the local monsters. When I found it, I highlighted a small portion. "Looks like most of the monsters can be taken down with physical attacks. It's good that we didn't take a magic-based SOLDIER or grunt. Would have been a waste, especially since Cloudy here is good enough with magic. Oh, I found out a little bit of information about the guide Shinra got us, and it sure isn't anything I expected. Want to fill him in, Cloud?"_

_The blonde looked up, a glass of water in one hand. He coughed after a moment, gaze shifting between me and Sephiroth. "Err, sure. Her name's Tifa Lockhart, age fifteen. Grew up around here. Her father is one of the most influential people in town--he's the mayor. He doesn't really like the reactor but he realizes its importance. Umm… he'd probably try to kill us if anything happened to Tifa." _

"_On a first-name basis with this girl?" _

_I gave a horse-whistle. "Cloudy here has a lot of unrequited love goin' on in that big heart of his. We can at least expect him to try and keep this kid's butt safe if none of us are able to do it." _

_Sephiroth looked up from the manila folder Grevers handed him. "I don't expect nor wish for you to do something foolish should she be in danger. Our own are more important than a townie, you understand?"_

_I looked up to see Cloud's fingers tighten around the bedspread. "Yes, sir." _

"_You can be a bit more casual. I am not going to attempt to eat your beating heart, like Fair tells most of the recruits and grunts." _

_I flipped to another sheet of paper. "Oh, tomorrow Cloudy's mom wants to cook us some big meal. I kind of already said you'd be going, sir, and we both know you can't stand upsetting the ladies. So, eight in the morning at Cloud's house and before you ask no, I don't think you're going to get out of this one."_

"_Fair, contrary to belief, I am a human and as a human I enjoy not having to eat the radioactive sludge that Hojo has our diets wrapped around." The man leaned back against the bedpost, an uncharacteristic moment of weakness._

"_Radioactive sludge, sir? I wouldn't consider it radioactive," Grevers commented, sitting back on the bed a few feet from Cloud. _

_Cloud pulled his feet back to make room for the other, looking at me. "Zack, care to tell Grevers here about the after-effects of Hojo's meals?"_

_I nodded, pulling the back of my shirt over my head. "This is what you get for eating the 'food' Hojo makes. You see that? That isn't normal now, is it?"_

_Tthe gasp that sprouted from the teenager's mouth was one of disgust and confusion. "Is that green…?"_

"_Yeah, it is. Don't know if it's permanent or not but it's creepy." To emphasize my point, I poked the skin around my spine, which glowed a sickly green. "It looks kind of like I'm going to have my back bone pop out, you know?"_

_Cloud coughed into his fist. "Mister Sephiroth, General, what deformity do you have?"_

_I snorted, pulling my shirt down. "Yeah, Sephy, why don't you show all of us that big little problem you have? I'm __**sure **__Grevers won't be happy until he find out, right?"_

"_Zackary Fair, if you don't put an end to such sexual innuendos I will be forced to toss you out the window. Strife, pass me the copy of the Mako Reactor production report.__ If Shinra has already found out the reactors are producing abnormal amounts of mako then we may have more difficulty discovering exactly what is wrong with this town."_

_We continued, bantering lightly, for another three hours before anyone grew tired enough to suggest we turn in for the night. _

"_Well, I believe it is time to get some sleep." Sephiroth stood, pulling his small bag from under the bed. "I will be using the shower facilities now, so if you must relieve yourself I suggest doing it before I enter."_

"_Yeah, I mean, how long do you condition your hair? It's waist length _--_ you've __**got**__ to have stock in some hair product company. So, I'll go take a leak." I stood from the bed, listening to my neck crack in response to the movement. _

"_Sir, I believe we may have a bit of an issue," Grevers looked around sheepishly. "You see, there are only three beds and there are four of us." _

_Sephiroth blinked. "Well, I can already assure you that I will not be bunking with anyone. I suggest you talk amongst yourselves." _

_Cloud gave me a glance and I smirked, "That means I've got a valid excuse to get all cuddly with you." _

_

* * *

_

"_Zack?"_

"_Wha- I wanna sleep an' you talkin' isn't makin' me fall asleep."_

"_Oh, nothing. It's, well…" _

"_Spit it out Cloudy." _

"_Can you _– _can you move your hand away from my butt?"_

"_Oh, sorry. Natural instinct to grab for the nearest ass. Bad hand. Now go to bed." _

_

* * *

_

"_I think your mom liked the General," I pulled on the Buster Sword, playing with the hilt, "She was all blushing while handing that second plate of pancakes to him. It's kind of funny, don't you think?" _

"_Zack, my mother is thirty-one and he is a world-famous General who is only in his twenties. She is a woman with estrogen; he is a man who doesn't seem to have sexual organs. In the past two years, I haven't heard of one person claiming to have slept with him. You would expect a line of women to stand at his doorstep, a new one each night, but it seems like he's sworn to chastity. I wouldn't and don't care if my mother blushes when handing him a platter of pancakes because it is obvious I don't have to worry about suddenly having a silver-haired brother running around." The blonde smiled, running his hands over the iron-wrought fence._

_I nodded agreement. "Yeah, you'd think Sephiroth would have crazy silver-haired children running around, burning down villages and whatnot, but he's actually pretty tame. I heard that there had been someone way back when, during the Wutaian War, but I'm pretty sure they're just urban myths." _

_Casually, I looked around to see the General and Grevers standing a few meters away, Sephiroth talking rapidly to a man, his face diplomatic, while the man's was turning a shade of puce. I made a quick gesture for Cloud to come closer. _

"_Okay, don't tell anyone I told you this – no one talks about it – and whatever you do, don't mention it around __**anyone**__. I mean, this isn't dinner talk, okay?" I waited a moment for the blonde to nod assent. Quickly I made sure the silver-haired General was trapped in conversation, before I began to explain, "They say he fell in love with Wutaian royalty while following Shinra's orders. They say that the father of this woman was the king and she defied all laws to see Sephiroth. I think he was about nineteen so this happened about six years ago. Anyway, the Shinra captured her and raped her to the point of near death and when Sephiroth found out he nearly wiped out the entire battalion of Shinra soldiers stationed around the point. _

"_After nearly killing all of the people, they say he found out the king had given up his child to the Shinra troops, ashamed that she was a whore to a Shinra General… After that, there was no chance of stopping him. As she lay in bed, dying, Sephiroth vowed to avenge her death by killing the people who had been so ashamed they had given her to Shinra. He killed thousands of Wutaian ninja, soldiers, materia-keepers, and assassins. I wasn't there but I heard that the Wutaians named him the monster with an angel face and a demon soul."_

_Cloud's face lost all color. Suddenly I was reminded of how very young he was. "Yeah, they did some pretty awful shit back then and I don't doubt some of the things they say about him," I continued softly, "I've seen him kill without so much as a blink and the story does explain it. I'm pretty shaky and sketchy on most of the facts but that is the most basic of the stories. Now that we're done, it looks like that girl is heading over." _

_It was interesting how quickly Cloud's face flushed and he pulled his mask on. "Don't say anything!" he whispered venomously, pushing all of his blonde hair into the band. _

_I raised my hands in defense. "Hey, I'm not going to mess with your chances of getting the girl, 'kay? Anyway, it looks like we're ready to get going." _

_The teenage girl skipped forward, pulling on the string around her neck. "Hi! I'm Tifa Lockhart and I'm the best guide in this entire town. I just wanted to say thank you for hiring me and I won't let you down!" She rolled back and forth on the balls of her boots, popping a piece of thickly-scented bubblegum in her mouth. _

"_Hi there, Miss Tifa. I'm Zack Fair, SOLDIER First-Class and this is my buddy, er, Rain. He doesn't talk much so don't worry 'bout him spacing off sometimes." The point of Cloud's military-issued gun dug into my boot. I forced my smile wider. _

_Tifa returned the smile, giving a quick one-handed wave. "We're almost ready to go but I was wondering… one of the guys was wondering if he could take a picture of the General, you and me. I wanted to ask if you could do that for me. As a memento? A girl doesn't get asked to escort the Legendary General and one of the few SOLDIER First-Classes around often in her life. So, please?" _

"_Oh, sure! Anything for such a cutie, okay? Just let your pops finish chewing out Sephiroth and we'll do it. I'm pretty photogenic and I know the General and his pretty silver hair is more photogenic than twenty of me."_

* * *

**Please Review! **


	18. Pandemonium

**NOTICE: This chapter, as of June 25th, has been bitch-slapped betafied by the coolest girl in the universe. All bow to her insane skillz: unwinding fantasy! Yay!**

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life. End of story.

* * *

Chapter Twenty Six: Pandemonium

Zack searched the eyes of the people surrounding him. His mouth was dry from all that talking, from all he still hadn't said. "So. That was the beginning of everything. I figured you would want a bit of information on the situation – I know I would – so yeah. Eh heh heh." He scratched the back of his head then added, "Anyway, got any questions? And Barret, go take a leak. I swear your eyes are bugging out of your head, turning piss yellow."

The black man jumped up, crumbs flying from his shirt. "Shi', thought I was gunna die! You talk too much, Spiky. Ain't you ever heard o' summarizin'?"

"Well, I never knew that was you, Cloud. Rain… I should have figured something was up. You always were the type to hide behind a mask…" Tifa's face grew pensive. "I figured you would come back one day but I thought you would have at least shown your face."

"I… was ashamed," Cloud answered after a moment of hesitation. "I thought you'd be embarrassed to know me because I hadn't gotten further than grunt level."

Zack waved a hand. "Cloudy, only point one percent ever made it past the tests. They _were_ extremely difficult. Damn, I was nearly turned down the first time around, even with Angeal being my mentor! It isn't just about scores either; it's about how receptive your body is to mako. You probably didn't make it because of the fact that your body couldn't take the mako in correctly. I saw lots of guys go crazy from the mako."

"But, if I may ask, why are his eyes mako blue? That is no normal color – they are the eyes of a SOLDIER, a man infused with copious amounts of undiluted mako." Red stretched out on the floor, his flame-tail clinking against the floor. "So, how did you come to possess mako eyes?"

Zack grimaced. _Not yet, you moronic dog. I'm not ready to explain that yet. It'll break him. _

"I don't know," Cloud answered, lifting a finger to his left eye, running it along the flesh of his cheek, "I was actually waiting for Zack to explain that. I have a shady memory and still am having problems piecing everything together. What does Sephiroth have to do with Nibelheim? You told me so little and I don't understand what's going through your mind. I just want you to hurry up and finish this."

It was clear from his tone that the mysteries of his past had been affecting him more than he'd let on. Feeling his heart curl up in his chest, Zack took another deep breath and continued.

* * *

"_It isn't going to miraculously end, is it?" I questioned, my feet digging into the path. "I mean, we've been walking for two and a half hours and we haven't come across that bridge you said would only take us ten minutes to get to. I'm seriously contemplating if you're just planning on leading us into the middle of nowhere, dropping our asses there and running off." _

_Tifa stomped her foot. "You wanted to go the scenic route, didn't you? It would have taken only ten minutes but you said you wanted to see all the pretty things! I'm only doing what you asked me to do. Don't get mad at me because you aren't specific enough."_

_Cloud gave a small snort, causing the brunette girl to twist her head. "Oh, like you know any better way of getting around here?" _

"_Of course he does," Sephiroth whispered, pushing a cloth over the blade of his Masamune. He raised his voice, "I believe we should arrive sooner rather than later, correct? We have many things to do and not quite that much time in which to do them so if you will, please move us a little faster." _

"_Sir, yes, sir!" Tifa gave a mock-salute, taking a sharp right turn towards a bridge a few meters away (which, Zack swore, hadn't been there a minute before. Damn twists), "We were almost at the end anyway. Once we cross this little bridge we'll be to the other side and there's this really cool fountain Mister __**Fair**__," she put an emphasis on the name, "wanted to see. Isn't that cool? It's one of the few left in the world, right here in our own Nibel Mountains."_

_Sephiroth glowered. "It would be wonderful if you would, from this moment forward, ignore any suggestions that come from his mouth. He speaks far too much, wastes too much time. Now, once we pass this bridge will we be to the reactor?"_

_The teenage girl shrugged. "Nope. After that we still need to get through the caves. They're pretty too." _

_I huffed, kicking a rock. "Well, Sephiroth, I figured you need some pretty things. I mean, there has to be something that can fight against that god-forsaken hair." _

"_Fair, it would be best for you to stop speaking. I remind you of this daily but you ignore me. Perhaps I should have a talk with Hojo, have him put some new chemicals into your meals _–_"_

"_Aww, you're making me hungry. Don't mention food right now. I mean, my stomach couldn't get any emptier. We've been walking forever!" I whined. _

_I could hear the Masamune being unsheathed. "Why must you mock me? I know you are not as immature as you have been acting. I wonder, is this how you believe you can slither your way into Miss Lockhart's panties?" _

_Both Tifa and I choked simultaneously. "What the fuck? Of course not! I just love pissing you off!" _

"_Thus, you are mocking me." _

_I bit down on my smiling lips. "Yeah, I guess I am. That kind of sucks for you, if you want to know the truth. Now, Grevers, care to sacrifice yourself for me? Sephiroth's blade isn't all that bad. Granted, I wouldn't know, but that's all right. So, you willing to be a martyr for me, buddy?"_

"_No."_

"_Well, you aren't that great of a friend." I turned back to look over my shoulder. "How bout you, C_–_Rainy? Are you going to save my lily-white ass?" _

_Tifa laughed loudly. "Oh, you're funny Mister Fair, but really, we're getting close to the bridge. I walked by yesterday and it was a little wobbly but I think it'll hold just fine. Maybe that would be a good thing for your company to invest in _–_ some good bridges wouldn't go amiss." _

_It didn't look safe: there was an assortment of planks missing and the rope was fraying at the edges. "Uh, you sure that isn't going to kill us?" I asked warily. _

"_Oh, of course it won't! It's the quickest way to get there. Trust me, you don't want to go back the long way. My watch is telling me it's almost three and I don't want to be running around at night. Sure, you guys are big boys, but what's going to happen to me? Getting eaten by some funky-looking monster really isn't anything I'm planning on." She skipped onto the bridge, signaling for us to follow her._

"_Like her father would allow anything to happen," Cloud leaned forward, whispering into my ear._

"_Hey, don't talk like that about your girlfriend."_

_Cloud nearly pushed me off the bridge. "Don't mess around. Anyway, it looks like this thing's gonna fall apart where we stand. Oh, Grevers, quit rocking the damn thing. I'm going to be puking things up that I ate when I was a kid." _

_But he wasn't shaking the bridge. _

_

* * *

_

Zack stopped, scratching his stomach. "Can you pass those chips, Cloud? I'm getting hungry and those things are looking really tasty."

The blonde launched the package into the air, the chips spewing from the open side, piling into Zack's lap.

"Thanks, Chocobo-head. Didn't even need to reach my hand in to grab any."

"Why don't you just finish the damn story?"

* * *

"_Cloud! Grevers! Sephiroth! Tifa! Where the fuck are you?" I yelled, my hands touching my left shoulder. The bone was sticking out but before I could even think of the pain, I slammed by palm into it. After the tell-tale crunch, it slid back into the skin. I shut out the pain, aware that passing out now could mean the death of one of my companions. My voice was going hoarse as I gave another long yell, "Anybody hear me? Anybody see me?"_

_A loud cough rose from behind a nearby set of rocks. A masked face rose tentatively._

_Overcome with concern, I ran forward and pulled the teenager's body close, ignoring the twinge in my arm. "Oh, Minerva, I thought you were a goner! Shit, Cloud, you scared me." I pushed his face into my chest and had no plans on letting him go._

"_Can't breathe," he gasped, one hand pushing against my chest. "Just a little air…!"_

"_Right, sorry, kiddo." I moved my arm, wincing once again. Ignoring the look of worry in his pale blue eyes, I tried a smile, which turned into a grimace. "You know where anybody else is?"_

_Cloud shook his head, reaching up and pulling the blue mask off. "No, I just rolled off those rocks over there. If I had been a meter away from the rock, there might have been no me left. I'm worried for the others: if they're hurt they'll be easy pickings for monsters." There was a streak of blood coming from his nose and his lips were quivering slightly. I suspected he was even worse off than me._

"_Hey, you okay?" I asked, putting one of my hands on the teen's back. He recoiled, a hideous look of pain crossing his face. Quickly, I jerked my hands away. "Shit, what's wrong?"_

_Cloud took in a gasping breath. "Don't know," he grunted, lifting his hand to his nose, wiping the stream of blood from his nostril, streaking red across his face._

"_I've got some restore materia on me. Take off your shirt so I can see what happened to you. Did you fall on something?"_

_The teenager nodded, another grunt escalating from his mouth. "Ugh, yeah. Rocks."_

_I swore under my breath as the blonde reached down, his fingers pulling on the hem of the uniform. "Shit, that isn't right," I exclaimed as the wound was revealed. His back was covered with purple splotches that deepened in colour the closer they got to the centre of his back. "Oh, Cloudy, stay still, okay?"_

"_Wasn't really planning on moving, you know."_

_I placed my fingers on the small green ball, watching the tendrils encircle the wounds, my hands trembling. "You fell on a bunch of rocks. I don't know what I'm going to do with you. Uh, one more second before you start pulling down that shirt. It isn't a good idea for you to be moving that quickly _– _oh, shit."_

_Sephiroth tossed his Masamune into the ground, Tifa dangling helplessly in one arm. "Fair, if you ever suggest we take the scenic route, I'm going to hurt you dearly." His eyes traced over Cloud's form then mine. "I see you weren't able to find Grevers. I figured as much. There was a rather large blood splatter a few minutes to the left with tracks leading from it. It seems we have lost the boy." He leaned down, propping the teenage girl on a nearby rock._

_Cloud made a strangled cry. "Jake's gone?"_

_Slowly, I patted my hand against his back. "Yeah, buddy. It's okay to cry If you want." I pulled down the boy's shirt._

"_No," Sephiroth snapped, his eyes like fire, "we don't have the time to grieve right now. It sounds cruel but we need to continue moving. Perhaps when we get to the reactor we will be able to fix the malfunctions quickly, but we can't afford to waste more time on a wild goose chase. We should get back to more important matters. Our guide is unconscious and I will not be running around searching for another way to the Mako Reactor, so if you would be so kind, Strife, I ask you to lead us. Fair, you can be the donkey."_

_I nodded, patting Cloud on the back once more. Affecting cheeriness, I said, "Come on! It isn't going to do any good for you to mope. I don't think he would have wanted that."_

_Cloud cocked his head back, spitting blood onto the floor. He wiped his nose again. Drying flecks coated the corner of his grunt uniform. "Fine. Just don't expect the scenic route."_

_

* * *

_

_Tifa woke up when I got to the final stretch of land. Slung across my back, she must have been in some pain because she didn't protest against the treatment. The air was colder closer to the Mako Reactor. Most of the Mako Reactors I had been to in my life were far warmer, almost stifling, than the actual temperature outside. I hadn't given it much of a thought; Nibelheim was naturally a cold place, the early frost already coating the rocks as we got closer to the top.._

"_This is a strange atmosphere," Sephiroth stood cautiously, looking at the Mako Reactor with disdain. "Is this normal, Miss Lockhart?"_

_The brunette shrugged and weakly replied, "I'm not sure. It's been like this for as long as I can remember so I guess it really isn't all too different than usual. Why do you ask?" I put her down, allowing her to rub at her barely-covered arms that were splotched with white and blue._

"_Reactors are supposed to __**produce**__ heat, not suck it from the air," I answered automatically, watching large puffs of smog rise from the interconnected pipes. "It's too cold up here and it just keeps getting colder."_

"_I must wonder, was this a conventional Mako Reactor? Perhaps your father knows why this reactor is so different. A new construction, maybe?"_

"_Nothing like that," Tifa answered after a moment of contemplation._

_I looked to Cloud, who was silent. "When we get up there you two are not permitted access. Hate to do it, what with you guys coming all the way out here, but there's no way the General or I am going to let you in there, especially when it's turning out to be so abnormal. You guys are going to have to hang around here for a little bit."_

_Tifa stopped short, slamming her feet into the ground angrily. "That isn't fair!" _

"_Lockhart, if you attempt to follow us I will have no issue putting you to sleep. I have the materia in my bangle, and I will be giving this to Rain," the General shot me a glare, "so he can act upon you should the need arise." As to make his point clear, he took out the glowing green material and tossed it at Cloud, who caught it easily in his hand._

"_Now that that's settled, I think we should get goin' up there, right, Sephiroth? Don't want to keep them waiting out here for too long." I grabbed the man, pulling him toward the staircase leading up to the reactor. "See you later! He'll take good care of you, I promise!"_

"_But! But!" the girl tried, attempting to pass by Cloud, who had taken station in front of the set of stairs. She pounded her heel into his boot. "Not fair! Let me by!"_

_Cloud shook his head 'no', moving his gun in front of his chest, using it to lightly push the girl away._

"_Good luck!" I waved one hand behind me, the other still firmly implanted on the General's shoulder._

_

* * *

_

"_Shit, it's cold in here," I whispered, rubbing both my hands together. "SOLDIERs aren't really affected by the weather but damn, this isn't natural. It can't be more than a few degrees above zero in here. I don't know about you but I'm feeling kinda chilly."_

"_Concentrate on the assignment and get to work. We need to find out if there is some sort of malfunction somewhere in this place, which means we should start with the control room. I believe we will have to take the ladder down, according to the blueprints."_

_I looked around the room. My breath was fogging in front of me, mingling with the clouds of Mako hanging in the air. "The Mako fumes are really dense in here. Do you remember the blueprints? I don't think I'll be able to find the ladder with all this smoke."_

"_Fair," Sephiroth conceded, "I understand you do not have a high mental capability but you __**are**__ as loyal as a puppy. Sometimes I want to beat you for pissing all over my Wutaian rugs but you are the only person I would do this with. Now, because you are completely hopeless, I understand exactly why Shinra wished for me to bring along someone with more competence."_

_I clutched my chest, mock-hurt. "Oh, how you wound me, oh Great General. Alas, there was no one but me who would follow you here," my smile dropped and my tone became serious as I continued, "but really, I don't think it was old man Shinra who wanted us to come here. Why would he want to waste two SOLDIER First-Classes for something several grunts could handle? I've been thinking about it since we got here. Have you got any ideas?"_

_I followed him toward where I imagined the blueprints had told of a ladder. "Actually, I have, before we began our trip from Midgar. I took it upon myself to see the people who had been assigned this mission before us. It was, in fact, a set of SOLDIER Third-Classes. Further digging revealed they were pulled from the assignment for health problems, every one of them. Now, who could have that kind of control over SOLDIER? Zackary, you know of whom I speak."_

_A sudden chill, nothing to do with the temperature of the room, ran down my spine. "Hojo. This isn't good, General. I mean, that man gives me the heebie-jeebies and that creepy-crawly feeling in the middle of my stomach. He was the one who _–_"_

"_Yes, you are correct, Fair. Hojo has had some hand in our entrance to this town and though I am not certain why, I can believe it has something to do with this reactor. A sensation of… alertness has grown in me from the moment my feet crossed the threshold of this town. I don't doubt that Hojo, that slithery monster, has something in his syringe and I fear what it will mean for us."_

_His blatant admittance caught me off-guard. "Maybe we're just thinking too much about this?" I asked hopefully._

_One elegant eyebrow rose. "When Hojo is involved, there is no thinking too much. You either think of a way to avoid his trickery or, as many do, give in." He turned to the ladder, perhaps eager to have our job done with. "It will only take a few more minutes before we come to a conclusion about this. I am hoping it will not be as unpleasant as the last time I found something out via Hojo." He climbed onto the ladder, moving with practiced ease._

_I followed._ _"What did you find out last time?"_

_I heard a snort from below me. "I found out about a rather unfortunate incident in my past, if you must know. Since then, I have had an undiluted hatred for Hojo and his violent and cruel ways of manipulation."_

"_That doesn't explain what he did," I pointed out._

"_It was to do with Genesis and a mutual acquaintance. Does that satisfy your thirst?" _

_My feet hit the ground and I saw, from the corner of my eye, Sephiroth touch his hair. I shrugged._ _"Well, if you gotta know, not really, but no pressure."_

"_Well," he mocked gently, "if __**you**__ gotta know, I wasn't planning on telling you anything further. Now, just a few more feet to the right and you will see the door..."_

* * *

"So, this man, Hojo, was the one pulling the strings in the background?" Aeris stood up, taking a few steps toward the window.

Zack sighed, not wishing to answer. "Yes, it was Hojo screwing around with everything. I think he enjoyed doing such things. Destroy a couple of people's lives, play God, use them for his own sick amusement. I heard many things about him before I became a SOLDIER, how he was evil and sadistic, but I really never expected him to be quite so bad. In fact," his voice dropped, "he was even worse than I could imagine."

"Stop me if I am wrong but you are speaking of the Hojo which had entrapped me in the Shinra building, who wished to mate Aeris and I?" Red bared his teeth, the question coming out as a partial snarl. "The man with the cold, uncompassionate face, needle in one hand, scalpel in the other?"

The ex-SOLDIER looked around the room to see Cloud, lying on his stomach, once again subconsciously rubbing at the scars on his skin. The sight caused a bolt of frustration to flash before his eyes. "Yeah, the scientist you had the unfortunate luck to meet. Really wasn't that great of a guy, was he?"

Aeris shuddered. "I believe the word that comes to mind is 'understatement' for your analysis."

"Yeah, he's a fucking evil monster but let's get back to the story, shall we? There really isn't much left."

* * *

"_This place is kinda creepy." I felt for my Buster Sword, the cold weight comforting on my back. "Let's just do what we have to do and get out. Now, er, what exactly do you think we should do?"_

_I heard the older man sigh in frustration. "You are eighteen years of age and still do not understand your orders. May I ask who your Commanding Officer was when you were a grunt?"_

_I scratched my head, looking at the various capsules lining the room, rows and rows continuing until reaching the very back wall. "It was Sergeant Mayako, I think. The guy with the gray streak? People call him Sergeant Monster."_

"_He will have no chance of allowing any further morons past the Academy, I assure you."_

"_Ah, he wasn't that cool anyway," I turned my attention to the capsule-like containers. "What do you think are in these things?"_

_Sephiroth took a few steps up the stairs, eyes narrowing. "Fair," his voice was quizzical, "can you read what that sign says?"_

_I looked around, only seeing one sign above the topmost door. "That thing above the door? '__**JENOVA**__'. Know what it means?"_

"_The name of my mother…" Sephiroth lifted his foot up, taking a few more steps. His fingers experimentally touched the metal door. "This is what Hojo spoke of… Fair, look into one of the chambers. Are they empty?"_

"_You're kind of wigging me out, Sephiroth." I retreated back down to the landing. "I'm not sure I want to look in there with the way you're talking."_

_The General turned, his silver eyes staring at the capsules. They flash green for a moment "Hojo is a monster. Look into the glass, Fair."_

"_Do it yourself," I countered, irrationally unnerved._

"_Fine," he snapped, walking briskly down the stairs. Stepping back, I made way for the man to look into the nearest white chamber. He peered inside for less than a moment, his eyes involuntarily snapping closed. "No…" Sephiroth whispered, his fingers gripping the sides of the metal. "This, this is monstrous even for you, Hojo… but I understand now. I understand…"_

"_Understand what?"_

"_Just look for yourself." He moved gracefully away from the capsule, his hands violently shaking, as he said, "You will understand, even if I do not fully know."_

_I shrugged, pulling myself up to look into the glass. Inside, floating in a vat of pure Mako, was a beast with a __deformed head. Its eyelids seemed fused shut but blood red irises were shining brightly through the closed lids._ _Forcefully, I pulled myself away from the hideous sight. "What in all that's Holy was that?"_

"_That," Sephiroth viciously spat, "is what happens when one is exposed to long-term intensive Mako. That, as you so elegantly put it, is my brothers, your brother, our comrade. I should have expected the war was meant for more than one reason _– _collection of bodies for experimental use. How foolish I was to expect something so simple as honor from a man with no soul." _

_He began pacing, muttering to himself, "But I understand now. Mother, brothers, this was how I was created too?" His voice broke as he fell to his knees, his fists slamming into the capsule. "Why? Why! Why this one! How… how.…"_

_I jumped back as Sephiroth pulled out his Masamune, swinging the sword violently at the capsule. "__**How dare you! This is of your doing! Am I a monster like them? Am I a monster like him! Mother!**__"_

* * *

**Please Review!**


	19. Despondent

**NOTICE: As of July 4th, this chapter has been betaed by the beautiful and godly unwinding fantasy. All hail unwinding, neh? (And yes, I did steal that from Angeal)**

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life. End of story.

* * *

Chapter Twenty Seven: Despondent

_Sephiroth hadn't left the Shinra Mansion since we came back from the reactor. Cloud, a few townspeople and I held a small funeral at the base of the mountain for Grevers, whose body we had gone back for the next day. He was dead. If he had survived the fall, the bloodstain I had been told of from Sephiroth suggested he had been ravaged by monsters. A hurt grunt could make it for only so long in the center of a dangerous mountain, the temperature dropping, the monsters bloodthirsty and hungry. We hadn't been able to find the body, but we knew._

_Sephiroth had decided against coming to the small farewell for Jake Grevers. I wasn't surprised. The horrid look of pure hatred that passed from his green cat-like eyes (they were no longer their beautiful silver, but a mako-infused ugliness) to mine were haunting, mesmerizing. He'd slammed the door in my face the first night and pulled out Masamune on the second, threatening to disembowel me. He would have too, I think, had I not moved in time._

_The third night, I came into the room in the basement of the Shinra Mansion, passing by a door, which I had earlier attempted to get into when my ears picked up the subtle sound of breathing, and a revolting series of blood-splattered equipment covering the medical platters. A few bullet shells lay in the thick dust, which would sift from below my feet, coating the bottom of my pants, whenever my feet hit a particularly dusty spot. He was covered in dust, thick tendrils of gray matting his hair. A smell of despair reeked in the back library. He seemed to be the epicenter of that scent._

"_Did you know your people were the reason for the death of the Cetra?" Sephiroth snapped a book shut, tossing it carelessly onto the ground near my feet. I kneeled down, picking up the leather-bound book to read the name: '__**JENOVA PROJECT- A THEORY OF THE ALIEN ORIGIN**__.' _

_Sephiroth's voice was colder than I'd ever heard it, "Yes, my mother and Jenova are one and the same. She is the mother of our world. Excavated from the ground near Nibelheim thirty years ago, it took five years for the scientists on the team to successfully implant her cells into an unborn fetus. That was me, the General Sephiroth. The Legendary SOLDIER. The Hero of the Wutai War."_

_I looked around the room, noticing the titles on all the books. The bindings showed names of various JENOVA experiments, dates covering the rest of the room. It was unnerving. How many books could be written on one creature, one alien?_

"_This wasn't how you were created," I stated fervently as I stood, throwing the book on the table. "You know that isn't true. You might be a hard-ass sometimes and a bit confusing, but you aren't an alien. You're my comrade, my buddy, an idol for people like Cloud. No one like you could come from something so utterly ridiculous. Are you even listening to yourself?"_

"_She came with gifts to the world, a new plan, a new dream but because she was different, too beautiful, too smart, you __**humans**__," he spat the word, "your pitiful kind, locked her away. She resided here below the surface of the earth for thousands of years, waiting. Now her only son, her heir, lives. I will do as her will dictates. Now, Fair, do you know why the Ancients, the Cetra, are almost nonexistent?"_

_I wanted to run forward and grab him by his pretty hair. "Because they couldn't stick it in? Fuck, I don't know, Sephiroth, but what I do know is that the past is the past and you're going to have to get over it. You're too smart to be doing this metaphorical bullshit to yourself." Shaking my hands at him, I begged for him to look away from his book._

"_Listen to this, Fair: 'The Cetra were chased from their homelands by humans when the Calamity came, speaking of truth and peace. They joined with her, their mother, but the humans feared her. She was a goddess among mortals so they encased her in a prison, hiding her beneath the soil. The followers, the Cetra, tried peaceful negotiations but the humans thought they were brutal and inhuman. The Planet herself attempted to free the unsung Calamity but in her attempts she freed the Planet's defenses, the WEAPONS. This unleashed unspeakable horror upon the people and, attempting to save lives, the Cetra were racked with plague and famine to protect the humans."_

"_What does that mean? Nothing!"_

"_Oh," he tsked, pulling a few other books from the shelves, "no, it was important. You are the product of those fools, of those people who betrayed Mother. But Hojo, Hojo understood the importance of JENOVA and with each attempt to reincarnate her; he became more knowledgeable of her mystery. He knew he wouldn't be able to bring her back so instead created a copy of her. That is who I am. The child of an alien sent by the Gods themselves, a Goddess. I am the heir to this planet. I should feel none of these human emotions but all I feel is hatred!"_

_I skidded out of the way as more books were forcefully thrown at where my head had been moments before. "But you are no alien, no monster! You were created in a womb, while those things in those capsules were taken and morphed into what they are! They are the monsters, not even by their hand! That thing, that horrible and disgusting thing was a monster, but you are not!"_

_I hadn't even had the chance to blink. Sephiroth was jumping over the desk, clutching my throat in one hand. I felt my muscles constrict painfully._

"_Do not speak of them in such ways," he hissed, spittle flying from his mouth, "they are mine, __**mine**__. You and your pitiful humans and their pitiful lives, with their pathetic sense of duty. Monsters, you call them! They are not monsters, but the incarnations of Gods! And you, you are the ants on the ground, biting their feet, injecting poison into their veins. They are more beautiful than you could ever be. Now, leave my sight!"_

_He thrust me by the neck out the door and into the hallway, books crashing down around my head._

* * *

"Wai', that's that fucking headless thing in the Shinra Headquarters! Fuckin' headless spook!"

"It resides there no longer," Red interrupted the black man, who was furiously pounding his fists against the mattress, "I saw the casing to it cracked, the bloody trails leading from the capsule. When I looked inside, I noted the specimen was gone and a small trail of water accompanied the blood. Did you not notice how much slicker the floor had become?"

Zack looked around quickly, noting that Cloud was chewing on his nails. "Well, I didn't notice but it really isn't that important. Can I continue? It's going to get more confusing if I keep stopping repeatedly in the middle of the important shit."

The group shook their heads, Aeris moving her legs from under Red's head and Tifa patting Barret lightly on the arm to stop him from repeating the mantra of obscenities on his tongue.

* * *

"_Cloudy, your mother's cooking for us! You have any idea how much I want to marry her right now? A full, home-cooked meal is something I've been dying for since I left home. Ma makes dinner every night and you don't miss it until it's gone. Damn, Cloud, how did you survive with the protein bars and green shakes?"_

_Cloud was leaning in front of a small, hand-made stake in the ground, twining a few flowers around the edge. It was the small cemetery of the town, a place I had never expected to see. I had thought that the people from Nibelheim did what we had done with Grevers, putting up a stake with his name engraved on the side in the mountains. But Cloud could not leave the stake unattended, and I followed him._

"_I don't know," the boy mused, pushing away some thin ivy from a headstone. It was a woman's name, I noticed after a second of looking. "I think it may have had something to do with you sneaking me off to places that had actual food, like that place down below the plate you brought me to after a mission, but maybe not. I think I have a hardened stomach from all that stuff; some of it was like eating needles."_

_The breeze shifted to the east. "Well, can I ask you something? Who was she?" I pointed to the grave then put both my hands in my pockets._

"_My grandmother," Cloud simply stated, pulling out a few weeds, tossing them to the side. "She died when I was eight. I remember her; she was a lovely woman, took my mom in when she got here. She wasn't related to me but I grew up with her as my grandmother. 'Blood does not matter in times of tragedy,' my mom once told me.__**"**_

"_Aw, sorry kiddo." I kneeled down, looking at her death date. "So where're your father and real grandparents?"_

_The blonde snorted, digging his fingers into the ground. I watched the dirt invade the creases of his hands, creeping under his nails. "Grandparents? They were killed during the Massacre of Crondrel, one of the main cities before Midgar was built. It was to the west of this town, between the sea and the island of Wutai. There was an attack by Shinra, which had at the time been a mass-producer of weapons, exterminating many of the city folk. My grandparents were slaughtered by the Shinra and my mother, pregnant, took sanctuary in this town."_

"_Oh…" I couldn't respond, didn't know what else to say. I knew of the massacre: nearly one million people slaughtered in the streets, the city burned down. I also knew how a fifteen-year-old girl became pregnant at that time…_

"_Don't worry about it. Just, you know, don't bring anything up in front of my mother. It isn't something people talk about after dinner."_

_I nodded my head reverently. "Oh, don't worry about that, Cloudy. I'm smooth with the ladies. But, just so you know, your mom is hot."_

* * *

"_Thank you, Miss Strife." I wiped my mouth with the napkin already stained with food. "That was the best thing I've had in way too long. You cook a mean pot roast stew."_

_The older woman blushed. "Oh, thank you, sweetheart. And please, call me Kysen. Whenever you say 'Miss' I kind of feel like I should be wearing diapers."_

_We both laughed, Cloud giving the woman a quick smile before picking up the dishes in front of me. "Oh, you aren't a house-wife, Cloudy. Here," standing up, I snatched a few plates from his hands, "let me take that."_

"_He is such a gentleman," Kysen cooed at me, clapping her hands together. "Oh, you are just such a darling. I have to ask, how old are you?"_

"_Mom!" Cloud snapped, causing him to spill a bit of juice from the dirty plates onto the table. "Must you hit on him at the dinner table?"_

_Kysen waved her hand. "Cloud, you'd know if I was hitting on him. And I was just wondering because if he's older than twenty, there has to be a Mrs."_

"_But why would it matter?"_

"_Because…" she put one finger to her lip, thinking, "well, if he's married then I don't have to worry about my baby getting shacked up with a gorgeous man like him! You've got your mother's genes, sweetie. We like things that are pretty and sweet."_

_I gave another short laugh. "Aw, Cloudy, your mom is just worried about me molesting you in your sleep or something. But no, you don't have to worry about that. I'm only eighteen but I have a wonderful girlfriend back in Midgar. You kind of remind me of her. Anyway, Cloud has a thing for a certain someone right here, in this town."_

_I walked a few steps forward, placing the dishes on the sink._

"_Do not," Cloud stated snappishly, turning on the water full-blast, "and anyway, what is your saying, mom? 'You should get yourself an older girlfriend, one that'll take care of you.' Isn't that right?"_

_I smiled. "Well, you should. Someone older to look after you, I mean. If I weren't with Aeris, I would set you up with her but as things are… sorry to disappoint but you kind of can't have her."_

_Cloud's mother clapped her hands, looking at both Cloud and I. "Well, because you boys cleaned up the table I think we should eat that pie I made earlier. It's been sitting in the fridge, ice cream in the freezer and I had to restrain myself too many times from eating it today. Who wants a piece?"_

* * *

_The town was quiet. There was a faint musk in the air and out of curiosity I went back into the mansion, down into the basement. It was even quieter in there and dark too, the first thing that told me that there was something wrong._

_The pages of a few textbooks lay scattered across the ground. I leaned down to pick one up. A few marks, bright splotches against the page, caught my eye._

_I read aloud as if doing so would make the meaning behind the words obvious: "'__**And she healed the Planet with fire, a fire which burned brighter than the sun. She, the Calamity**__.' What the fuck is this?"_

_Another: "'__**JENOVA watched the town burn, therefore saving the people from damnation from Minerva.**__' This alien has a thing for lighting shit on fire…"_

_I was out of the room before the pages fluttered to the ground like butterflies without their wings._

* * *

_The town was blazing. Severed bodies lay on the ground, charred and bleeding. I didn't know what to do. The place was still too quiet apart from the crackling flames licking everything they touched._

_I tried, in the frenzy of heat, to see if anyone was breathing. I knew Cloud had gone back to Nibel Mountains, armed with his gun to say hello to Grevers, but his mother… Tifa and her father… the people who owned the items store… the children I had seen playing with their toys from the inn's window._

_I didn't stay long. The only house I searched was Cloud's. She lay on the bed, her throat slit. It was the first time I vomited after seeing a dead body in years; long, stomach-burning heaves that left the acidic taste of bile lingering in my mouth. Her eyes were closed, her face peaceful. Sephiroth had been delicate with her._

_I don't know how long it took to get to the Mako Reactor; all I remember is the hit of air on my face, the panic in my stomach and the vomit in my mouth. Time seemed to slow and speed up at irregular intervals, my feet beating against the ground then the scenery passing agonizingly slowly. A minute, a day, a year, a second – I don't know the time it took for me to get there, to stand before him. Tifa's body was on the ground. She cursed me but I ignored her, attacking Sephiroth instead._

_He mocked me. He called me a fool, told me of his plans of world domination, how it felt to have the blood coating his face, drying in his hair. His eyes shined and that scared me most of all. _

_Still, I attacked him. I tried to kill him. I tried to see Kysen's face, her eyes closed and blood pouring from her neck, her hands folded. I tried to see Tifa's mouth forming the words 'I hate you' over and over again. I tried to see Cloud's broken face, the blue eyes filled with tears, his anguished sobs as he pulled on my shoulder, screaming._

_But all I saw was red._

* * *

"I don't remember what happened after that, not until I woke up on a cold metal slab, taped to the table, Hojo looking down at me. That was for five years. Five years – do you know what that does to a person? We barely made it, Cloud and I…" Zack turned to regard the blonde, who was staring intently at him, willing him on.

Zack spread his arms in appeal. "I didn't want to talk about it, to tell you about that brutal and unpleasant time, but I suppose I couldn't keep it secret anymore. We were in Hojo's hands for five years until I was able to escape, you with me. I have the memories of the lab in the basement of that mansion, but my body hasn't aged."

Zack pushed his thumbs together, not looking up. "I know, Cloud. You should be mad at me, you should hate me because I didn't tell you when you woke up at Aeris's house but I just couldn't do it." He looked up, seeing Cloud walking toward the door, his back turned.

"I wish I could have done something, you know," he whispered, a last plea.

Cloud turned, his Mako eyes shining with hate. "You can wish all you want," he hissed before walking out of the door, slamming it shut behind him.

"You shouldn't have done that." Aeris stood, shaking her head."Zackary, you shouldn't have done that. You piled so many things on him…"

"Tha's cold, real col', Spiky."

Zack winced. "If you're the one saying that, Barret, then I'm really fucked up. Uh, I think I'm going to go find him–" he gestured to the door nervously, "er, you all going to be okay while I go deal with this?"

The glares he received from three of the party made him nod, scrunching his face. "Yeah, I think I'll go. Uh, now."

As Zack left, he heard Red stand and yawn. "What an interesting story," the furred beast spouted, and the ex-SOLDIER had to shake his head. Only Red.

* * *

**I like the interaction between Cloud's mother and Zack. I wish she wasn't dead, actually, because she was actually fun to write. And no, as you've seen by some character names, there are no normal ones. But, I really like Kysen's name. It's pretty, I think. Anyway, I didn't like a few things with this chapter, but that's okay. The next chapter will be better. **

**Please Review! **


	20. Glares and Passes

**NOTICE: As of July 4th, this chapter has been beated by the kick-ass unwinding fantasy. I'd have fallen into the well of hell if not for her. **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life. End of story.

* * *

Chapter Twenty Eight: Glares and Passes

He hadn't noticed when he entered the town because he was preoccupied rehearsing the story in his head, shaping it into something that could be digested by the party but now that he was actually walking around, searching for Cloud, wherever the blonde had taken off to, Zack noticed just how many glares he was receiving. Women buying supplies in the street markets stopped what they were doing to stare the black-haired man down; children parted to move out of his way, eyes narrowed, one child kicking a ball at his legs. Across the square, the men had taken a defensive stance, their shoulders hunched, pipes hanging loosely from their mouths.

"Weird" was an understatement; Zack knew this when he gave a small smile to a child who had darted out into the street and received a harsh stare from the mother for his trouble. This continued halfway into the town until the man grew weary of having the townspeople glaring at his back.

"Can I help you?" he said, resisting the urge to gnash his teeth together. The woman who he had addressed dropped her bag at the sudden outburst, making Zack sigh and run a hand through his hair. "Sorry 'bout that. Here." Quickly, he kneeled down, picking up the parcels and handing them to the stunned woman, whose brown eyes were now wide. "That was everything, right?"

She coughed. "Um, yes. Thank you… for that, you know, helping me pick up my stuff," the woman stumbled over her words, a slight blush creeping from her neck.

_Bingo!_ Zack thought wolfishly, giving her a carefree smile. Had there been a post behind him, Zack would have casually leaned back but because there wasn't he just shifted all his weight to his right leg, placing one hand on his hip. Smiling, he said, "Of course, ma'am. Anything to help such a pretty face."

He watched her actions, seeing her foot kick the gravel nervously, leaning her head down and picking at her parcels. Normally, Zack would have been pleased with this reaction but now it only made him feel a bit queasy. Using women was never fun but at least this time it was for a noble reason.

_Scaring him away from you and lying sure as Holy wasn't a noble thing, you numbskull, _Zack chided himself, glancing around.

"So, may I ask who you are?" the woman questioned. "We saw you and your friends come into town. The people talk a bit…"

"The name's Zack Fair, ma'am." Zack tipped an imaginary top hat to her, causing a small laugh to escape.

"You are funny." She fanned her face quickly before saying, "My name is Justine, Mister Fair. Now, how may I help you today? After all, it is only customary to offer help in return for help."

Zack stayed quiet as if he was contemplating the offer, inside smiling victoriously, "Well, there is something that I think you could help me out with. My friend kinda went missing. Well, actually, he left but I need to find him. I said some stuff that hurt him and I don't think he's… thinking straight. He's probably getting wasted as we speak. Reckon you could point me in the right direction?"

"A lovers' quarrel?" there was a hint of hesitation in her voice.

There was a moment of shocked silence, the violet-eyed man's mouth dropping open, gaping much like a fish in oil, unable to swim, unable to breath. "Huh?" he finally managed to get out before beginning to laugh hysterically, "Me – me and Cloud? Oh, Holy, sweetheart, that was funny. Anyway, he isn't that type of guy. He's head over heels for this girl he knew from childhood."

"But does that mean that you don't want him? After all, you didn't talk about your feelings."

"I'm sorry, but me and Cloud won't ever be like that. He's a guy and I'm a guy. Now, do you think that there's somewhere he would have gone?" Zack changed the conversation piece quickly, getting back onto the topic of finding his lost friend.

"Well, there is one final place he might be…" Justine looked around for a moment, getting onto her tiptoes. "It's right there," she motioned to a rather shady looking bar half-hidden by a large staircase. "That's one of the first places I could think an angry man would run off to. The spirits are cheap and the services are certainly varied."

"Services?" A lump grew in the back of his throat.

She leaned forward, whispering into Zack's ear, "The town doesn't like to talk of that place. I've never been in there myself but they say that there are some rather dodgy people who frequent it. They say… there's an empty room in the back for the customers to use at their pleasure." Justine seemed to be scandalized by even speaking the words.

"You've got to be shitting me," the ex-SOLDIER ground out, shaking his head, already walking toward the place. "Thanks for the help!" he yelled over his shoulder, taking off at a jog. "I better get him before they kill him!"

* * *

Zack noticed Cloud sitting in the furthest corner of the bar in a booth, two people leering close, one with his hand on the blonde's hip. Quietly, the ex-SOLDIER sneaked inside, slipping into the small booth behind Cloud's. It was a strange feeling: he wanted to see what Cloud was going to do. There was a strange, perverted thought racing through Zack's mind that he couldn't squish. Was Cloud going to beat that guy to a pulp for putting his hand on him or was he going to accept this guy's proposal (which, by the, "Come on, babe, I'll make your body feel on fire," did not sound like he was offering to help Cloud find a lost cat)?

"You're a cutie. You know, there's a room out back that we could have a little fun in," the second man tempted, running his fingers over Cloud's hand.

"I'm not drunk," Cloud mumbled, jerking his hand away from the second man's touch, "and I'm not gay. Go away."

Zack resisted the urge to smile.

"Aw, that's too bad, blondie. I could have had some fun with you. What, you got a boy?" the first man asked, ignoring Cloud's, "I'm not interested," demeanour.

"Not gay. Now bug off," Cloud smacked his hand on the table, demanding the server's attention. A moment later the bartender walked over and placed a shot of vodka on his table. Quickly, Cloud thrust his head back, the drink going expertly down.

"How can you do that?"

"Military. Bug off."

"Ah, alright, candy, but you change your mind you know where to find us."

The two stood, leaving Cloud alone.

It took a moment for Zack to straighten and walk to Cloud. "I really didn't think you'd do that," he said as he pulled out the stool, situating himself on the hard wood.

The blonde teenager inhaled. "Thanks for believing me. Know I can count on you." The bartender walked by again, pouring clear liquid into another shot glass. "I'm not a child, you know. How hard would it have been for you to tell me? Am I not trustworthy enough? Did you think because he was my idol I would have helped him? Did you think I would just accept it and move on?"

A deep burning sensation ran through Zack's heart. "I'm sorry, Cloud. I didn't want to keep it from you, you know. But… it was just so damn hard to tell you."

"Sephiroth… The great General… The Legendary SOLDIER First-Class… My idol. I should have known the minute I saw that damn sword sticking out of the President's back."

Leaning forward, Zack lightly placed his hand on Cloud's head. The teenager pushed the comfort away. "I'm not a kid, Zack," he bit.

"You aren't acting normal, Cloudy. I mean, you never really have an issue with me playing with your hair."

The blonde shook his head, taking the vodka, swallowing in one gulp, "I'm just not drunk enough."

* * *

"Cloud, you're toasted," Zack remarked, watching the blonde swivel around the stool they had moved to after the two men that had propositioned Cloud had left with a waifish boy drunk and like putty in thier hands. "I don't think you should have any more. Come on, let's get you back to the inn where you can sleep off this bottle of vodka."

The blonde shook his head, snickering. "Ain' drunk. Gimme more giiin. Geen… Zack, how do you say tha'?"

"It's gin-- and when you can't pronounce the name of the thing you want, it's time to cut you off. I don't want to put you on my back 'cause there's the chance you're going to puke on me but it's already late. We've been here for nearly four hours. It's surprising that the girls haven't sent out a search party for us yet. Now, up you go." Zack pulled Cloud's arm, the chair still spinning.

Cloud stumbled onto his knees, laughing. His Mako blue eyes squinted shut. "Ain' drunked."

"And I'm a virgin."

"You aren't?" the teenager's voice was completely serious, his face losing the boyish, drunken grin, "You've done _it_?"

Zack snickered. "Yeah, Cloud. It isn't that big of a deal. Want me to carry you back? I don't think you can really stand without falling. Gravity doesn't like you."

"Guh, mmhmm." The blonde reached his hand to grope at the fabric of Zack's trouser leg, attempting to pull himself up, "How did it go?"

"How did what go?" the ex-SOLDIER asked as he disentangled the boy from his pants. He was only listening to Cloud's words, as they made no sense, not really paying them much attention.

"The thing. Put the thingy in th' thingy." Cloud's eyes opened comically wide, "You took the thingy in the thingy!"

Zack groaned, holding Cloud by the stomach. "Yeah, sure. I don't have a clue what you're talking about, but whatever shuts you up. Now, let's go–"

"Thingy an' thingy!" Cloud laughed raucously and Zack still didn't understand.

* * *

"Shush, they're sleeping," Zack whispered into Cloud's hair, sensing the teenager was already half-conscious.

"Yush."

Zack fought against the desire to tape his friend's mouth shut. Quickly, he shut the door behind them, grateful for the ability to see fairly well in the dark. It took a moment for him to find the empty bed and when he did he put Cloud down on the covers.

Cloud's clunky boots made a very loud sound as they hit the floor. In the furthest right bed, Barret snored on, oblivious. "Aw, shit," Zack angrily whispered, wincing at the loud sound. He reached forward, pulling on Cloud's belt,"Damn thing won't come lose."

"You puttin' the thingy in the thingy?" Cloud muttered half-asleep, jostling his hips to the side. His hand fumbled for his pants, pulling the zipper down.

"Whatever, let's just get these dirty clothes off you. They reek like a cheap bar." Zack tugged at the shirt, pulling it over his head easily. "Now in you go." Quickly, he pulled the other side's blankets down, helping Cloud in.

As Zack pulled away, Cloud's hand traveled to his wrist, pulling him into the bed with surprising force.

"Wha–! " the raven-haired man whispered as Cloud crushed their lips together. It was warm. The boy's hand reached down between their legs, grasping at the front of Zack's pants. Zack shivered as the warm skin fluttered at the bottom of his shirt, attempting to reach for his groin through the material, a warm tounge gliding over his bottom lip. Zack didn't open his mouth, too in shock to realize that Cloud's fingers had made it into his pants.

He pulled away quickly, seperating Cloud's body from his own.

"Tha's what I'm supposed to do?" Cloud's face looked red, and he was reaching down to further pull at his unzipped pants.

Zack got up, pulling his arm away from the blonde's hand. He wiped off his lips with his shoulder. "Cloud, just go to sleep. You'll wake up in the morning with a hangover but you aren't going to remember any of this."

"'Kay." Cloud closed his glowing blue eyes, pushing his pants off and sliding into the blankets, his face becoming peaceful. "Tell me story."

"Maybe later kiddo," Zack smiled but behind the smile his mind was going wild.

* * *

_He's just wasted._

**No one gets that wasted. You don't just molest someone and not know what you're doing. **

_He's never been good with liquor. I mean, I remember how he got when he drank…_

**Cloud's sneakier than you think.**

_No, he's not. This is the kid who blushes if you mention him liking someone of the opposite sex._

**Yet he has no problem kissing you, a man, while he's drunk. Nor did he mind grabbing for your--**

_But he's not gay. Just... no._

**You said the same thing: "I'm not gay!" and then who did you end up sleeping with more times than countable?**

_Reno was different._

**That's why you've had sex with him. Or, as Cloud puts it, "Put the thingy in the thingy".**

_Holy shit! That's what he was talking about? I wasn't really paying much attention to him. I thought he was just babbling._

**Yes, dumbfuck. **

_But he has Tifa fawning over him and I have Aeris. I love her._

**You can fall out of love. You did it with Reno.**

_Reno was sex without attachments. It wasn't love--I loved Aeris, even though I cheated on her with Reno. I just did it because it was release, nothing personal or loving about it._

**That's why he was willing to do just about anything for you and you him. **

_He was willing to let me top. That was about it._

**He saved you and Cloud.**

_On Tseng's order, apparently. And even then, he hasn't really done anything nice, now has he? Reno does what he wants--he doesn't care about anyone but himself and his needs._

**Who the fuck do you think you're convincing? He probably hasn't been with anyone since you left. **

_Which is why I found him in Corneo's brothel. He's been having sex with his share of women--he always has. He has had more sex partners than I could could on all of Shinra's employees. Fuck, half of them **were**_ _Shinra employees._

**Has he been with another man? **

_He said that he wasn't generally into guys. I was just something weird--kind of like how he was weird to me. Wedid each other, but we only did it with each other. He just wants a hole he can shove himself into. That's not love._

**Isn't that more of an answer?**

_No. And he didn't have any true feelings. And why are we talking about him?_

**Because I'm trying to point out the inability for you to remove your ass from your head. Or your head from your ass. If you weren't able to see Reno's feelings or the feelings you had for him, why doesn't it surprise me that you can't see Cloud's?**

_Because it isn't there._

**Fine, whatever. Good luck with Aeris. You're already pushing her away. **

* * *

**Please Review!**


	21. Holy Palmer's Kiss

**NOTICE: As of July 4th this chapter has been betaed by the sweet and great and amazing unwinding fantasy. I want to have her babies. **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life. The name if this chapter also does not belong to me, but the play, Romeo and Juliet. I do not own Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, and won't ever. Even if I were to put my name on the book, it would not work out because everyone knows whom it belongs to.

* * *

Chapter Twenty Nine: Holy Palmer's Kiss

Zack woke to Cloud's groans of pain. The blonde was twisting in the bed sheets, his hair plastered to his sweat-drenched face. Suffering from a hangover, Zack initially thought when Cloud was merely tossing and turning, but that assumption changed when his mako blue eyes did not open, when his mouth did not spurt something other than half-heard moans.

Groggily, Zack opened his eyes, noticing with some pleasure and thankfulness that someone – probably one of the girls – had taken time to draw the curtains tightly shut. It helped; it was not so painful to awaken as he had expected but… he had expected to get more sleep. His arms were still feeling much like lead as he lifted them to his eyes, rubbing. After a moment the stickiness went away and Zack fully opened his eyes, noticing the pallor of Cloud's face, the tightness of the jaw and, when he reached forward to touch the blonde on the back, the tightened muscles of his back and the coldness of his skin.

"Cloudy, you okay?" the raven-haired man asked, leaning over concernedly. He reached one hand forward, feeling Cloud's forehead, which was cool to the touch. "Come on; if you're going to puke, you may as well get it done with now. I can get you a bucket or something."

A moment passed before the ex-SOLDIER realized that no, Cloud wasn't awake. "Lame. You woke me up and you aren't even awake?" He wasn't honestly angry with his friend; the kid looked sick and it was perhaps the best thing for Cloud to be doing considering how ill he had looked earlier. Even Zack had noticed it.

The blonde shuddered violently and pulled the blanket up subconsciously. Teeth chattered a bit and Zack had to wonder if he had ever acted this way after getting drunk. _Was_ this even from drunkenness? Perhaps a nightmare instead? Zack considered this after a second. It did make more sense, he reasoned, and lightly placed his hand through the blankets onto Cloud's shoulder.

"Cloud, you hear me? Come on. Get up," the words were soft but firm, like his hand on the teen's shoulder. It surprised him how different Cloud looked – sometimes the teenager, who merely held the body of a teenager, the memories of a teenager but the age of an adult man – seemed to transform into something dissimilar. The look of frustration was one both these faces held but the look of pain, of weakness, Zack knew was only present sometimes. It hurt to know that Cloud was so torn. He knew not of who he really was. Was he the same boy from the village of Nibelheim, who had struggled to become a grunt, to allowing his dream to slip away or was he the man who had been experimented on, whose emotions were not considered important?

Zack knew the feeling, the feeling of uncertainty of which person he was. Was he himself the same SOLDIER First-Class who had fought his way to the top, a fierce opponent and fierce friend, who was willing to lay his life down for the reasoning of goodness? Or, was he the man who was still stuck in the body of a torture victim, a man who his himself behind a smile that had once naturally come to his face, hid behind a sense of duty and revenge?

Unaware of which side he could or would choose, Zack continued to try awakening the teenager from his ghastly sleep.

* * *

"That's the third time you've started to puke," Zack stated as he rubbed a washcloth against Cloud's forehead. He had woken up with a horrible hangover like Zack had predicted the night before and the blonde was now dealing with the consequences of drinking nearly an entire bottle of vodka then polishing off gin on top of the fact.

"Why did you let me drink so much?" Cloud grumbled angrily, rubbing circles against his stomach. "You weren't supposed to do that. You're supposed to cut me off."

Zack raised one arched eyebrow. "Oh, now was I? Well, next time, when you're still sober, you should try to tell me that rather than just have me not know what to do with you. I mean, come on, give me something to work with. It wouldn't have taken more than a couple of words and you wouldn't be dealing with your head feeling like it's going to fall off. Gotta say though, it's kinda funny."

"Go choke."

"Oh, how you rip out my spleen, taking away my life!" The raven-haired man feigned pain, holding his arm to his stomach.

Cloud scoffed, "Your spleen isn't essential to survive," and as an afterthought, "you moron."

Zack rolled his eyes but grinned. "Use your head. I _can_ be sarcastic, you know."

* * *

"We desperately need supplies," Tifa stated when she and Aeris showed up at the inn wielding several shopping bags filled with clothing. Aeris dropped off the bags on top of a bed before heading back out in search of Barret while Tifa continued to explain how under-stocked they were. "I only had enough to buy some of the stuff we're going to need if you want us tracking from one corner of the Planet to the other. I tapped out half my savings on this and Aeris used even more to buy some phones for each of us. You're going to have to use some of your money to help out."

Zack nodded, holding his hand up to silence Tifa, "Fine, fine; I'll give you what you want and if you need more I can figure out a way to get more. It isn't like we're going to starve or anything."

The woman smiled encouragingly. "Of course not! We've got arms and legs and if worse comes to worse we can do some manual labor to get some gil. I also saw a sign for materia growth – some people don't want to risk going out of town to build up their materia. I know Aeris can do that quickly and efficiently." She cast her gaze to the furthest bed, "Oh, how's Cloud?"

"How did we jump from materia growth to Cloud?"

"Because I'm standing right behind you," came Cloud's voice. Zack spun around, surprised the blonde had managed to sneak up on him. Cloud was scratching at his wet hair, water dripping off him to collect on the floor in a puddle. He was wrapped in a towel, looking at Tifa's bags.

Zack swore. "Damn, I thought you were going to be in there forever. Since when does it take three hours to shower? Did you put your clothes in the corner with the rest? Aeris wants to take soap to them in a little while." Zack turned back to Tifa, who held out a paper bag as an offering. "Clothes for Cloud?" he questioned.

"Yeah. We figured everyone needed new stuff. If we're going to be traveling, our clothes are going to get pretty torn. I don't know about you but my sewing skills are terrible. Better to just spend the gil than to wear the same damn things daily."

"But I like my SOLDIER outfit."

Tifa's mouth twitched in what Zack took to be an amused smile, "Then you can keep your damn SOLDIER outfit," she relented, "Just don't expect Aeris to be fixing it every day. It's not like those uniforms are easy to come by. And anyway, the pants and shirt aren't the main parts of the outfit. Just keep the belt, pauldrons and boots and you'll be fine."

Zack took the bag she offered, opened it and began pulling out a few things. Seriously, Zack turned to Cloud. "The answer to your question holds the key to the world. Which do you prefer: boxers or tighty-whiteys?"

It took a moment for the question to sink into Cloud's brain. There was a brief moment of silence then Cloud whapped the ex-SOLDIER across the head, sending the package of boxers spilling loose from Zack's grasp.

"Damn, you're just stealing all of my fun. Is it so hard to please a guy by answering a question?"

"My underwear," the blonde snapped angrily, "is none of your concern. Have I gone through your underwear?"

"I'm not sure I really want to know, Chocobo-head. I mean, they _are_ my underwear, after all and it's pretty weird to think about you sifting through them." A look of mock-horror crossed Zack's face, "Oh, now you know my deep, dark secret of owning underwear of the opposite sex! What can I say? They're so comfortable and they grip my hips in that perfect way…"

This time the smacks came from two directions.

* * *

Zack slept better than he had the first night. The rest of the party seemed equally content. Somehow Red had been able to convince Barret that he wouldn't suddenly decide to gnaw on the man's arm and had gained permission to sleep at the foot of the bed. Aeris had been able to cast a slight warming spell on the mattress, which kept the middle bed warm, unlike the past night when both occupants had been fighting for blanket rights.

But the best reason was that Cloud wasn't attempting to feel Zack up in the middle of his sleep.

Zack still wasn't angry – the blonde had been drunk, hadn't known what he was doing. If, by some stupid chance, Zack had lead the blonde on the night before by telling him 'yes' (not even knowing that he was saying so), Cloud didn't remember any of it. When Cloud had woken and puked up the contents of his stomach he hadn't said anything to Zack that suggested he remembered.

During the entire day Zack had spoken his words with hesitation, expecting something he would say would suddenly trigger some memory to pop into the teen's mind, forcing him to recall the previous night. Minding his tongue was a small price to pay to ensure Cloud stayed forgetful. It was easier that way. Zack could keep the drunken actions secret.

He justified his silence because he believed he was protecting Cloud, Aeris and Tifa… but if he was being honest that wasn't the full truth. He wanted to keep this, this tiny secret locked up so he didn't have to share it with anyone. It didn't make sense. Granted, nothing ever seemed to make sense when it involved Cloud but it was still something he couldn't share, something… special. It would never happen if Cloud had all his wits about him and it would never be Zack who initiated it so that one kiss was something he wanted to isolate from the others.

Another part of his brain said it was to keep Tifa from thinking that Zack was a skeeze-ball. He had, even if he hadn't known at the time (and what was with not knowing what was going on in his own life?) he was breaking a clear promise. Zack knew she loved Cloud above all so he wanted to stop anything from endangering that already fragile flower of love trying to bloom in the middle of a snowstorm. The pair already had enough chances and elements working against them. He didn't want to add another.

Zack cast his gaze over the flower girl. Aeris was so sweet and innocent, willing to give up anything to make him happy (_even suggesting he take her body, the one thing she had refused to even discuss_) even putting her happiness after his own. She loved him enough to accept his mistakes without judgment, to let him be free (_she didn't turn away from him when he admitted to being with unsavory characters… he had even spoken briefly of Reno without inciting her anger_). When he'd told her he'd been with people while they were together (_Reno, in general_), she hadn't become angry, just disappointed.

Cloud though…

Zack knew she wouldn't react well to the idea that Cloud had kissed him, _seriously _kissed him, not like the few jokes they'd indulged in.

Besides, how mortified would Cloud be to know what he did while drunk? Cloud a typical straight teenager. It would be extraordinarily uncomfortable sleeping next to the person he had attempted homosexual actions with.

_Just go to sleep and forget about this,_ Zack told himself, curling up in the bed, Cloud's hand a few inches from his face. He looked peaceful, the bags under his eyes seeming to fade as Zack watched. It was nice.

Why it was nice Zack didn't know, but he thought it had something to do with worrying about his friend. After all, Zack knew he never denied anything. He delved headfirst into whatever awaited him (_Reno had on more than one occasion told him that there was no one, not even himself, that could lie so well and not look guilty about it_).

Gently, Zack touched Cloud's hand, linking their fingers. He wanted to somehow calm the teenager, he rationalized, a preventive measure to keep Cloud from having another nightmare.

He was getting good at turning lies into truth.

* * *

"Yo, Spiky! We ain't got all day. Don' wanna stay here too long, right?" Barret said the next morning over breakfast. A bit of egg hung in his beard, but other than that one flaw the black man actually looked serious.

"Uh, yeah. Red says he heard a couple of the townspeople talking about a guy in black leather heading to the southwest. There's a small town along the way and we should be there by tomorrow if we start walking soon. I talked to the guy who owns a store 'round here, said he's got the rest of our shit at his place. We just have to pick it up and buy some more non-perishables."

Zack watched the five others react to his information, some with indifference like Red and others, like Cloud, who seemed determined, ready to go.

"Good. I don't wanna waste no more time waitin' 'round here for you to get yo ass ready. You said you wanna catch this freak show, Sephiroth, an' that's what we're gunna do." All that was missing from Barret's expressive speech was the man banging his hand down onto the table.

Resisting the urge to remind the Avalanche leader that he wasn't elected leader, Zack bit into another piece of toast. The taste wasn't bad -- a bit dry, but it was food, something he'd missed while traveling to Kalm. The most the group had eaten was small furry creatures they had killed and a few fruits and herbs Aeris had classified as safe. Granted, there wasn't much on the open road except grass, which Barret had suggested they eat but a few things they had stumbled across could have lead to serious sickness or even death. Aeris had stated _that_ particular warning very sternly. No one had dared even think of touching anything Aeris said no to: she was a Cetra, an Ancient; if anyone knew anything about the land, she would.

"Uh, yeah," Zack said again, "we'll leave in a little while. Just, can we, you know, finish our breakfast? And you've got egg in your beard." He raised his hand to his own smooth face, rubbing at it.

"Here." Tifa leaned over the table, brandishing a napkin in Barret's face. She wiped off the mess then placed the soiled napkin next to his plate. "You're hopeless, the lot of you. Aeris, does Zack sit there and stare, confused, when you talk to him?"

Aeris, who had been taking a sip of her juice, coughed lightly. Zack saw her reach up to prevent anything from shooting out of her mouth. "Oh, sometimes," she waved her hand lightly.

"Ouch, babe, that hurts. Me, stare confusedly? Just 'cause you don't see my face all the time you've got to go making assumptions…"

Cloud glanced up from his own meal. "Oh please. You only understand half of what I talk about."

"Cloudy! You break my heart, doll. You're supposed to stand up for me but all you do is side with the girls. Anyway, what makes you so different from me, eh?"

Tifa gave a quick laugh. "Oh, not allowing the testosterone in his body to control all brain function is one reason." She lifted her hand and began counting off the reasons, "Then there's the fact that he speaks the human language–"

"I speak the human language!"

"You speak man-speak. Grunts, belches, scratching at your stomach, comparing the size of your swords…"

"Literal or metaphorical swords?"

"The constant sexual innuendos." Her third finger waved proudly in the air like a death sentence for the male species.

Zack stood up and leaned over the table, patting Tifa on the head, attempting to get a rise out of her. "Fine, I get it. You hate most of the male population. We're too sexual, don't shower enough and Gaia, does it have something to do with the hair?" Zack moved his hand away, running it through his own spiked locks. "I mean, it would make sense for you to be jealous of the hair, especially Cloud and me. Does it piss you off that we have prettier hair than you girls?"

Tifa seemed to be foaming at the mouth. Zack visualized little bubbles of white coating her bottom lip. He half-expected her to lean over and rip his jugular out. Aeris, who was on the verge of tears of mirth, had sometime during Zack's little speech grabbed hold of Tifa's arm to prevent her from jumping over the table and mauling him. The ex-SOLDIER was grateful; he had dealt with many things when in the military but one thing they hadn't been briefed on was how to avoid a woman's wrath.

* * *

"My feet aren't doing too well," Aeris said as she tossed down her pack, sitting on top of it. Zack watched her tug at the laces of her brown boots, loosening them until her socked feet could wriggle out. There was a bit of blood on one foot. She sighed, "Another blister popped. Everybody, I think you should take a minute to sit down and check yourselves. The materia I've got is strong so if you have any bigger wounds I suggest you show them to me."

Zack sat down, watching Tifa flopped down next to him and pull off her gloves. Her arms were severely bruised, the blackened skin contrasting with the natural color of her wrist. "No problem with my feet but that last monster that attacked us bruised up my knuckles. Aeris, if you could?" she lifted the hands into Aeris' line of sight. Zack could see the discomfort in her eyes as Aeris carefully examined the other woman.

"You should have told me sooner," the green-eyed woman stated, pulling the green ball of Mako from her bangle.

Zack gave a theatrical yawn. "Sorry about making you guys walk all this way but we don't have the money for a car. Maybe with all that materia Aeris got from that lady we'll be able to save up and get one later. What do you have to do when we get to the next town?"

Aeris pat Tifa's now healed hands, returning her attention to her feet. Gently, she pulled each sock off, wincing as the wound stuck to the cotton. "Ouch," she muttered softly after a moment, taking in a deep breath before continuing, "Zackary, I have to send her the materia in the mail. It'll take a few hours at the most to get it to her by chocobo and she'll send me the amount of money for the amount of experience her materia gained. And before you ask, no, there's no way, as you would put it, she'll 'gip' us. She'll send the gil."

Quickly, the wounds on her feet disappeared. She let out a labored breath. "Now, are you okay?" she asked the others.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Guys?" Zack turned his head, looking back to the rest of the group. Cloud had a small gash on his forehead and Barret was grumbling about his knee, which he had fallen heavily on a few miles back. Zack grinned, "Back to work, eh, princess?"

Aeris lightly touched her brown hair, adjusting the long braid in the back. "Looks like I do. Now, if you'd excuse me, I'll go make sure everyone has nothing to grumble about. I have a feeling Barret's itching for you to do something silly, giving him an excuse to swoop in and take your place."

After giving a tiny giggle, Aeris slipped her shoes back on and walked away, leaving Zack to contemplate how serious her warning was. Surely they weren't going to give him the boot, right?

_Aw, I hope not. I kinda feel like I was made for this job. _He sighed and scratched his head. There was now little to do but wait.

* * *

**This is actually something I've been playing with in my head. I mean, there is no way that there aren't more towns. In Crisis Core a lot more towns are recognized, but most end up getting burned down. Eh heh, heh. So, this was interesting, and I hope you liked it. **

**Please Review! **


	22. Abstraction

Author Notes: This is the first chapter out of two that are being released today. I figured you'd rather have them of decent quality than having three or four of them. So, you have two, which I'm kind of proud of, actually.

**NOTICE: As of July 4th this chapter has been betaed by the crazy cool unwinding fantasy. Love her, really. **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII and its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Thirty: Abstraction

Kanon, a small town with a population of twenty-six hundred inhabitants, left Zack sore. The people had been kind enough to let Zack rent out rooms in the inn that probably hadn't been slept in by outsiders for years and they hadn't shown open dislike on their faces, but the violet-eyed man had noticed the speculation in the air. Visitors of any kind were a rarity for the Kanon townsfolk. Such a diverse group – a red-furred beast more civilized than most humans, two mako-eyed SOLIERs, an overly-busty woman (Zack had searched the crowd and it seemed no one even had half of Tifa's chest) who was poking an overly-aggressive black man with a gun grafted onto his arm (he was scarier than all the others added together) and an innocent-looking female who was attempting to stay off conflict. Zack heard a group of gaggling women wondering out loud why such a woman would be traveling with a pack of weirdos.

Zack had gone searching through the entire town for a bank and post office. It had taken two sweeps of the entire town before he'd thought to give a burned-out building closer inspection. He'd discovered the remnants of an old post office. Three years ago it had caught fire and now the office had been conveniently relocated to the inn's basement.

"How in Gaia was I supposed to know it was down there?"

"Well," Tifa snarled, wiping her brow, "if you had bothered to ask anyone you would have found it rather than dragging us around like we were chocobos! What is it with you?"

Zack coughed into his hand. "Well, er, you see, I don't like asking people for directions. They get me all lost."

"We noticed that, Zackary but in all honesty you could have just let one of us find it!" Aeris sounded annoyed, a rarity for her. "That wouldn't have been too difficult now, would it?"

"Maybe not, but still. I'm sorry for dragging you guys around but at least now we don't have to worry about finding it."

Tifa snorted, rolling her eyes. "Zack, maybe we should let Red be leader. He was at least willing to ask for directions."

"And get my tail stepped on in response," Red added in a cold voice.

"Sorry about that! I told you it wasn't my fault: Cloud was trying to pull me to one of the stalls lining the road and I didn't want to go!"

"What a childish action," the red-furred beast added, scanning Zack with his good eye. "You hold the qualities of an infant, Zack. I am not sure this is a good thing."

The raven-haired man lifted his hands in surrender, taking in a breath. "Fine, I get it. You want an apology? Well, fine, there; you've got one. Now can we just go get a delivery boy so we can send this thing on its way?"

The inn's room was smaller than Zack had expected. There were three beds but unlike Kalm's spacious room there was barely a crevice to walk through. A small table held a bouquet of daisies but the room was barren of other decorations. Colors were plain, dull browns and greens; the only splash of color was the yellow petals.

Cloud laid down on one of the beds and closed his eyes. Zack noticed the intense difference between the hair on the blonde's head, rich and vibrant, against the brown comforter as he rolled over a little, nuzzling his nose into the blanket.

"A little tired there, Cloudy?" Zack dropped a few bags at the foot of the bed, the clink of glass and other odds and ends at the bottom of the brown bag sounding through the room. It seemed to disturb Cloud, who buried his head further into the bed.

"What do you think? You dragged us around the town then made us go shopping," the teenager quickly yawned, lifting his head, "so yes, I'm a little tired."

Scratching his head, Zack sighed before belly flopping onto the bed next to Cloud. "Sorry," he said, mimicking the blonde's actions, placing his nose into the blanket. It smelled like wheat and the sun. "Didn't know I was a slave driver."

Cloud let out a breath and sat up. "Well, we're the first back. I guess we got our shopping done before the rest. It's quiet in here."

"It's a quiet town," Zack said, putting his hands under his head. "I swear I haven't even heard so much as a baby crying. That's really creepy, especially since we were in Midgar for so damn long where you couldn't walk down a block without hearing a gunshot or someone screaming."

The blonde's face grew pensive. "I've missed this quietness. Growing up in the middle of nowhere you get used to all this," he lifted his hands up, gesturing to the room, the inn, the town. "I think that once we're done chasing Sephiroth I'll go to some small town and stay there. I'm done with the big city."

Zack's mouth gaped open. "You've gotta be shitting me!" he laughed, sitting up, slapping his leg at the joke, "This can't be true, right? Okay, okay, you're sick of Midgar, but maybe Junon? You remember that place; it's so pretty there–"

"–If you want to fight through the smog to see the sun. I don't want to live like that anymore. Two years in the military getting the shit kicked out of me then five years in a tube of mako. I think the only thing that will help my claustrophobia now is a lot of room. No small places. No places that block out light." He turned his head towards Zack. "So, you're going to drag Aeris to some big city after this is done and have a bunch of city babies?"

"City babies? Well, I think they'd be cute city babies. If they had my hair and eyes and Aeris's nose and ears then they'd be the cutest babies out there. Maybe even cuter than your own blonde-haired, wine-eyed babies, but Minerva help you if you have any girls. With Tifa's genes, you'll have to have the biggest gun in whatever town you decide to live in. All the parents had one for me. My family line kind of had this thing for the wild side; I swear, there had to be at least four illegitimate brother and sisters running around my town."

"What makes you think I'll be marrying Tifa? She's my friend–"

"–who you've had a crush on for years. And now, after all that time away from you, it's obvious that she likes you."

Zack's words caused Cloud to scoff, "Oh, please."

Silence fell; a feeling of foreboding filtered into the air. Cloud lay back down, burying his head into the pillows. Zack noticed the small frown on the boy's face and he had to resist the urge to pull a silly face to make the frown disappear.

"Why do you get so sad, Cloud? Are you depressed? Do you need a hug?" To prove a point, he grabbed Cloud by the stomach, holding him close. "See, all you need is a little lovin' and then you'll lighten up."

Cloud hesitated for a moment before he pulled away, "Zack, you're a weirdo. I wonder sometimes why Aeris likes you."

"Because she knows our babies are going to be cute, that's why."

"But what if she doesn't want to marry you and live in Junon with little black-haired babies? What do you plan on doing then?"

Zack opened his mouth but no answer came.

Deep inside him, past the kidneys, past the intestines… deep within, somewhere Zack couldn't exactly pin-point, there was a fear. What if Aeris didn't want little black-haired babies running around? Since he had met Aeris, Zack had only pictured one future. Beyond the black-haired secretaries and their cats, beyond the red-haired man who made his head spin in ways Zack had never expected, beyond the one night stands he had expected that once he finished growing up, Aeris would be there.

Why had he expected Aeris to stay? Because he knew she loved him or was it because Aeris had never been with someone else? Maybe he was depending too much on the expected. His mother had told him before he had left that he would end up marrying some young girl, who was too innocent for their age, and that's why he had become so close with Aeris. She was innocent, one of the prettiest girls Zack had ever laid eyes on but why would she want to marry him? True, there had been a time when he was making quite a bit of money but now, as a runaway from SOLDIER…? How was he supposed to take care of babies when he could barely take care of himself?

Zack was twenty-three. His father had been twenty-three when Zack turned four. Immature, childish, skirt-chasing… these were a few words that began to explain the ex-SOLDIER's nature. He had the body of an eighteen-year-old and the mentality to match. How could teenager with no money, who was chasing after a psychotic man possibly even think about marriage let alone little children?

But… was that _really _why he was afraid? Something in his mind told him to dig a little deeper but whenever he tried to look at his true feelings he couldn't see past Aeris, smiling at him, her green eyes expressing love.

A younger love, Zack mused.

This entire situation, the faces floating in front of his eyes, just made his brain ache as if it was pounding against his skull. How was he supposed to worry about love? Wasn't he supposed to be worried about getting Sephiroth, exacting revenge?

Zack turned on the bed and decided, from the look Cloud's face, that there was enough hate in Cloud's heart to lead them on further, enough to help aid his own anger. When Sephiroth had been sane he had been friend and enemy, idol and opponent. Now there was nothing left but the cold touch of Jenova, the searing pain of mako and a disgust for people who hadn't wronged him.

Was this what lurked in Zack's future? Everyone he'd known had gone insane: Angeal, Genesis, Sephiroth. Was that his fate too?

"Don't know, Cloudy. Maybe I'll just marry you 'cause you say you won't be marrying Tifa." Zack saw Cloud's face turn a vibrant hue of red and the fist near his side balling up. Hastily, he backtracked, "Okay, okay, forget the suggestion! I don't need you breaking my nose, princess."

Cloud glared menacingly at Zack, who gulped. "What did I tell you about calling me princess?"

"Something about maiming me, right? That takes most of the fun out of the situation but because you get so anal about it, I'll stop."

* * *

"Zack, we just made five thousand gil!" Aeris yelled as she entered the room, clapping her hands together in wild joy, "Five thousand! I never thought I could make so much money!"

Her enthusiasm disturbed Zack's dozing. Beside him, the blonde simply groaned, mumbled for the older woman to be quiet and shoved his head under the pillow. Zack wanted to follow the blonde's example but when he saw Aeris's affronted face he gave a quick smile and pushed himself off the bed, giving the woman a quick kiss on the cheek. He felt her face try to change directions, but Zack pulled away.

"Well, that's great!" Zack exclaimed softly, motioning toward the door, which was ajar. "Let's go out here and celebrate. Cloud didn't get much sleep so I don't want to bug him. He isn't very nice when he's running on no sleep." He opened the door, letting Aeris leave first.

"He did look rather tired. So do you for that matter. Maybe you should go back to sleep and we can talk about this later. I was thinking about heading out with Red to a small store. He said he saw some wonderful equipment and since we _do_ have five thousand gil we don't really have to worry about the expenses."

"Okay, you go do that. I think I'll go catch a few more zzz's. Talk to you later, hun?" For a moment the ex-SOLDIER stood there, at a loss as to how to proceed.

The green-eyed woman gave a sad smile and nodded. "Of course. Maybe you'll come with us later, help pick out some stuff?"

Zack quickly nodded, already reaching for the doorknob. "Sure. Nighty."

* * *

The store was filled with various knick-knacks. Picking up a small lamp, Zack examined the worn paint and the burnt-out light bulb. There was a crack down the middle, Zack noticed after a second and before the owner could notice him holding the broken lamp he hid it beneath an old pillowcase.

"Aeris," Zack asked after a moment, "what are we getting from here?"

Aeris pointed to the back where a few tents lined the walls. "We should get those. They aren't really expensive and they're much better than the one that we have right now. Look, this one is plastic and won't fall down when the rain comes."

"That wasn't my fault. How was I supposed to know it wouldn't fit all of us?"

The brown-haired woman smacked her hand against her head, her braid swinging behind her head. "Measurements, silly."

Zack blinked. After a moment, Aeris laughed. "You surprise me sometimes," she said. "How did you get into the military not knowing how to cook, clean, or how to put up a tent? Sometimes I wonder if you would even survive without Cloud or me."

"You make it sound like I'm a hopeless puppy."

A cough came from behind a pile of green cloth that Zack thought was a wedding dress. "Sorry 'bout the mess. Normally Max cleans up but I've got no clue where he is. Probably lost underneath all of this stuff if you want to know the truth."

"It's alright. We actually want to buy these tents."

The shop owner somehow managed to untangle himself from the green blob, which was looking more and more like one of the monsters from the old movies Zack had seen playing on re-run when he was a SOLDIER. The first thing he noticed about the man was the deep gray streak through otherwise black hair, which reminded him of yet another horror movie. He stuck out his hand, offering it to Zack.

"The name's Jak. I'm the owner of this store. So, you're interested in those old things? They've been here for about three years, never been slept in but they work just fine. I had Max check them out last month. We got rid of a lot of broken stuff."

Zack was barely able to resist the urge to laugh considering he had shoved a piece of trash under the pillowcase the man was now touching. "Ah, see?" Jak pulled out the broken lamp, placing it properly back on the shelf. "One man's junk is another man's treasure."

"Ah, I get it," the ex-SOLDIER laughed.

"Hopeless," the woman muttered under her breath, causing Zack's smile to widen.

"Er, sir?" Zack asked, barely resisting the urge to smile deeper, "Can I ask you a question?"

Jak waved his hand. "Sure, go ahead. Just don't call me 'sir'. Makes me feel older than I actually am."

"Well, Aeris here thinks I can't take care of myself. Do you think I'd survive on my own or do I need a woman guiding me?"

The older shopkeeper chuckled. "You seem like you're a pretty strong guy, but from personal experience I've gotta say no. Why? Because I know for a fact I wouldn't survive a week without Max putting food on the table and organizing the store. Speaking of which, is that you?"

Zack turned to see a blonde walking in through the door, holding a large box in front of him. "Jak, come get this before I drop the damn thing. Post office has a few more from Wutai. Apparently the stuff for the house came in. Oh, we've got customers?"

Jak walked by, placing a kiss on the other man's cheek. Zack heard Aeris squeak. Midgar was fairly hush-hush when it came to same-sex couples so to find a couple out in the middle of nowhere where the people had to know about the relationship was amazing.

The two parted, Max handing over the brown wrapped packages then looking to Zack and Aeris. "Max Higgins. Nice to meet you." He nodded to Zack, shaking both the ex-SOLDIER and Aeris's hands. "And it seems you've met my airhead partner here. Foolish baby can't even pick up a few boxes. Or, for that matter, clean up shop."

"I resent that, actually. Just keep blaming me for my little problems with house work, why don't you?"

_These two bicker like an old married couple, _Zack thought, looking at both men again. They vaguely reminded Zack of some people he thought he had seen a long time ago, perhaps while in SOLDIER. _No, I'm sure of it._

"So, we'll take those tents. And I'll have to take your opinion on the situation. Can't survive without someone tucking me in at night. Gotcha."

* * *

"Rise and shine, Cloudy! We've got an hour before we start walking again. You've been sleeping since yesterday." Zack pulled on the bottom of the sheets, causing Cloud to automatically curl up into a ball, his shaved legs gaining goose-bumps. "Now that you're nice and cold, why don't you get your ass moving and into the shower? Breakfast's on the table already so you better get a move on."

"Bastard," Cloud grumbled, feebly reaching forward for the blankets with his feet. "Give 'em back."

The raven-haired man shook his head, holding the blankets a few feet away. "Nuh-uh, Chocobo-head. Wakey, wakey, wakey."

* * *

**I'm not sure if I would like Zack waking me up like that. My sister's and mom have done it, but I'm wondering if a pretty face and nice voice would make my opinion a bit different. I think I'd die and go to heaven if someone as drool-worthy as Zack woke me up in the morning.**

**Please Review! **


	23. Wark?

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I know or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Thirty One: Wark?

"Who's going to take the first look-out shift?" Tifa asked as she pulled her hair up, wiping the sweat from her face. There was a flush on her cheeks from the steam of the broth she had just created, her fingers red from cutting up potatoes.

Zack turned his spoon in his bowl of stew, watching the thick brown liquid slop against the plastic side. "I think it's Barret tonight. Red had the last shift yesterday and before that Cloud, and before him it was me. You and Aeris are going to be tonight, after Barret. Now, I'll just eat this stuff and then get to sleep; and I suggest you do the same." Quickly, without looking, the raven-haired man lifted the spoon to his lips, taking a taste. It was a bit tangy, but didn't seem so bad after a brief moment. He swallowed, nodding his head appreciatively to the busty fighter. "Not bad. I think Cloud could probably out-cook you, but that's alright."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Please, that boy can barely uncork a bottle, let alone cook something out of anything that isn't in a can."

"That's how Shinra taught me how to cook." The teenager walked forward, taking a sip from the side of the bowl. "And this is much better than anything I've tried to cook. Really Tifa, just ignore Zack. He's got a bug wedged up his ass, and I don't think Aeris wants to be digging out another one. Anyway, am I on watch tonight?"

"Naw, I'm doin' it tonigh'. You girls get sum' sleep. Ain't gotta worry 'bout me. I can take yur turn," Barret yelled from across the way, where he was trying, because the violet-eyed man could only see a few sticks pointing out from the ground, to put up the tents. "Now, how'd ya get this fuckin' thing up yesterday, Spiky?"

"Just connect the points. There are little black dots—just put the ends together where the same dots are." The black man shook his head violently, letting out a few swear words. "It isn't all that hard. If you need some help just tell me."

"Don't need your fuckin' help!" Barret roared, tossing a few white sticks into a grassy area.

Tifa leaned over to Zack, whispering into his ear, "I think you should go help him before he breaks the damn thing. Stubborn." She leaned back, scratching her nose.

A moment passed before the man stood, putting his bowl on a nearby tree stump. "Oh, fine. I am your whipping boy, Tifa." Exaggerating a deep bow, Zack heard the laughing from Aeris and Cloud. The woman in question did not seem pleased, her eyes narrowed. "Oh, I'm kidding, doll face, leave me be."

She gave out a tired groan. "Zack, I think I should just start ignoring you right about now. Aeris told me it would be easier to start out that way, but I ignored her, thinking I'd be able to handle you. But, you and Barret teaming up isn't all that good for me."

"That hurts, but I'll ignore it and go help Barret put together that tent."

* * *

There was a pack of Kalm Fangs that attacked the camp the next morning. As the sun rose, Barret giving off a deep snore, Zack sat next to the dying embers, his drowsy exes blinking open. A new set of bundled sticks lay on the ground, the ex-SOLDIER sending flames at the bundle, hoping for them to catch and burn. A pot of water sat next to him, ready to be put into the fire to create the usual morning coffee. Barret had fallen asleep sometime before Zack had woken, the man already deeply snoring, his feet propped up on a log, a small pillow from the tents on the ground under his head. So, when a group of six wolves slinked into the camp, the only person awake was a half-asleep ex-SOLDIER who hadn't even had a cup of coffee, let alone a weapon within arm's distance.

"Shit! Zack yelled, bleary-eyed, jumping up and knocking the pot of water to the ground. Thirteen steps to the tents, to his weapon, but it was less than a foot to Barret. Zack jumped over the bundle of sticks, smacking the heel of his foot into Barret's face. The older man let out a grunt of pain, opening his black eyes.

"Whut you wan'?"

"Pack of Kalm Fangs!" Zack explained quickly, pulling on the man's arm to make him stand. The larger black man moved quicker than expected, fumbling himself up from the ground, pointing his gun wildly. "You start fighting, I'll go get my sword—"

"No time, use yur fuckin' feet!" Barret blinked, experimentally shooting a few bullets to the general vicinity of the wolves.

_Use my fucking feet—you've got to be shitting me,_ Zack thought as he kicked his unclothed feet into the grass. He could do it, sure, but damn was it not going to be fun.

"Let's do this shi'!" Barret hocked his head, letting a myriad of bullets spew forth from his gun, Zack cracking his toes.

* * *

The first monster attacked Zack, snapping its long, pointed teeth at the ex-SOLDIER, who was barely able to lift his fist, smashing it into the wolf's snout. It made a deep, cracking sound, the monster reeling back in time to receive several shots to the skull. In the black man's moment of shooting Zack's broken wolf, three more jumped forward from the pack, heading straight toward the occupied Barret.

"Move!" Zack yelled. He jumped over the dead carcass of the first wolf, violently kicking the closest wolf in the skull. It snapped its teeth around his ankle, causing Zack to fall backwards, reacting by kicking out with his other foot. Another wolf was gaining closeness to his face—Zack could see the saliva on its snout, the blood-red color of its eyes.

The ex-SOLDIER thrust out his hands, grabbing the monster by the neck, pushing his fingers into the soft flesh of the eye-sockets. The wounded beast gave out a pitiful whine, and Zack used the body to fling into the Fang still attached to his ankle. Blood spurted forward and Zack ignored the pain.

"Can you make those fucking bullets move faster?" Zack shouted, pounding his fist into the stomach of another wounded monster, feeling the bones inside crushing and powdering into a fine dust.

Zack snapped his head when he heard a zipper coming undone, the blood-red sky illuminating the tent where both Red and Cloud were sleeping.

"Get back in—" Zack yelled when he saw Cloud's head poke out, but stopped when he saw the Buster Sword hanging from one of the blonde's hands. Quicker than Zack had seen Cloud move, the blonde ran forward, Red following behind him. The red-furred beast launched itself at one of the few non-injured animals, fighting to pull out its jugular.

The blonde jumped past Red and a bullet-riddled Kalm Fang, tossing the sword easily into the sky to Zack, who deftly caught the heirloom in his hand. Spinning around, Zack cut the throat of another snarling monster, watching the beast fall limply to the side. It was dead, much like the rest of the mutilated corpses.

* * *

_I fucking hate wolves,_ Zack decided. As he surveyed the damage to his ankle, Aeris rubbing water over the holes. He hissed as the hot water coated his leg, shaking with the pain.

"That hurts more than the fucking bite," Zack snarled, using his other foot to crack brutally into the closest dead carcass.

"Don't kick it more, moron," Cloud stated as he dropped a few sticks in front of the now-blazing fire. "It's actually pretty good that we got so many Fangs. The guys in Kanon told me that there was an intense need for the fangs of these suckers. We can just rip them out and sell them at the next town over. They use them to make some type of potions."

Zack gnashed his teeth together again, his foot jerking to the side, out of Aeris's hand. She held a medicine tube out in front of her, a thick blue cream covering her fingers. "Can't you just use the materia and get it over with?"

Aeris shook her head no. "Sorry, but I can't do that. You have been bitten by a wild beast and Holy knows what exactly was in its mouth. It would be best for you to just stay still and keep your foot elevated for twenty minutes after I put this cream on. It'll stop the pain, I promise." She leaned down placing a chaste kiss on one of the wounds.

"Ehhh," Zack groaned as Aeris pulled her head back, slathering the wound with the thick blue medicine. "You hate me, don't you?"

This caused the woman to giggle, wiping the blue mess onto the bottom of her dress. "Of course I don't, silly. I just worry about your health, and I don't want to have to hold you down as Cloud cuts off your infected limbs."

"Ouch, Aeris. Would you do that to me, Cloud?"

Cloud, who had been poking the dead monster with a stick, looked up. "If it saved your life, yeah, I'd cut off your leg. Now, Red, do you think we could get this thing's teeth out of its mouth without breaking its head open?"

"Whoa, you'd cut off my leg? What, you'd cut of my little Zack if it saved me?" The violet-eyed man's eyes widened, thrusting his hands to the front of his pants, as if holding them before him would protect his precious 'little Zack.'

"Never said that, but yeah, I'd cut it off. You're more important than some sexual desire. Aeris, don't you agree?"

The woman nodded her head, moving a few sticks into the fire. "There are ways to be happy without sex, Zackary. I'd rather have you alive than have you dead because you couldn't part with what's in your pants. Oh, there's a knife in our tent. I suggest you go get it Cloud, so we can start taking apart this wolf. I'm pretty sure either you or Zack, maybe even Barret, could take the teeth out. The two men owning the used shop said they were looking for some new coats. We can clean them and send them off to them. They said that there's a chocobo farm a little west from here, and Mister Max said there was post from there."

Zack buried his head in his arms, looking at his leg. The blue mixture was mixed with the reddish brown drying blood, and it reminded Zack of a purplish liquid Hojo had once forced him to drink. The smell of the liquid wafted through his nose, like the memory spinning into his mind. How long ago had that been, the raven-haired man thought, scratching his head. Seven years at least; he had been sixteen then, a SOLDIER Third-Class who had just graduated from the Academy, no longer a grunt.

"Well, I don't want to say goodbye to it," Zack said out loud, but the only person who heard was Red, who wagged his fire-tail.

* * *

"That's the third fat chocobo I've seen in the past hour." Cloud pointed his finger to the horizon, the lush green grassland housing another flock of the yellow birds, being lead by a deep green chocobo. "And," Cloud pointed to the leader, "that's the second strange-colored bird. Are all these birds wild?"

Zack hoisted the bag further onto his back, looking over to the birds. "Well, I guess so. Probably were once owned; you see how that bird bends its talons? The one in the front? Well, that's how the Chocobo Breeders in the Gold Saucer teach their chocobos to run." A brief flash came into Zack's eyes of Cloud wearing a shirt with an adorable chocobo emblazoned on the front. He snickered, gaining a few confused looks from his comrades. "Sorry," he laughed.

"I have heard of such a place—an amusement park large enough to be its own city. It is built in the center of the Corel Desert, inaccessible by many ways other than chocobo and car. They have created a way with an invention called a railway, which lifts them high off the ground, bringing them to the amusement park. How interesting—it would be a rather entertaining to view such a contraption."

There was a moment of silence, Barret giving a grunt. "Le's not talk 'bout tha'. Ain't good an' we oughta' be lookin' for this farm. Right, Spiky?"

Zack relaxed a bit, putting both hands over his head. "Yeah. The guys said it wasn't all that big, but it was hard to miss. There are a bunch of chocobo tracks in front of the place, and there are a few tiny-ass houses 'round it. There should also be a dirt track leading toward it."

"And there's the swamp land. We've got to get a chocobo and get across that thing," Tifa added to the conversation.

"I believe that is the place that we have been searching for. Zackary." Zack looked down to his knees, seeing Red's head. "We are approaching our destination, correct?"

Lifting his hands to his eyes, cupping them like binoculars, Zack happily nodded his head. "Yep, there it is—red and really ugly."

* * *

Two hours and a bruised eye on Zack's part later (Cloud had jumped back when one of the Chocobos attempted to pluck his eyes out, hitting Zack in the face with his flailing arm), Zack had decided that he had been ripped off.

The man, Chocobo Bill, had squeezed out over a thousand gil from the group after finding out that they were desperate for chocobos—Cloud had spoken to the grandson about the swampy area to the Mythril mines, and the Midgar Zolom. It was a snake, Cloud had explained fervently as he made large gestures with his hands, that had killed off an entire town without so much as leaving a bone._ That's what they got for building a town so close to the muck_, Zack had thought as he nodded his head to Cloud's words.

"There's no way in Gaia that we're going to be leaving this damned place without chocobos and that's that."

Zack rolled his eyes, grabbing hold of Cloud's shoulders. "Cloudy-boy, it's something that this guy uses to convince people to spend lots of money of shit they don't need! Really, do you want to waste a thousand gil on something that isn't actually real? Really, think about it—would you want to spend so much damn money on something that you don't even know has killed anyone, or even really exists?"

"Fair, if you don't spend this money I will tie you up and let a wild chocobo drag you through the swamps, and then you can tell me if the Midgar Zolom exists. How does that sound?" Cloud slapped the raven-haired man's head with his hand, causing Zack to release the blonde's shoulders.

So, Zack had shelled out a thousand gil, gritting his teeth as he handed the money over to the farmer, chocobo dung staining the bottom of his overalls. Cloud stood next to him, his arms crossed in front of him, leaning against the doorframe.

"Wasn't so hard, now was it?" Cloud asked, pushing himself away from the doorframe, out of the dilapidated building.

"Just watch, Cloud. You're going to feel like a fool when we get over there and all you're going to see is a bunch of fucking swampland. There is no such thing as the Midgar Zolom and we just wasted money on it. I think I'll go find Aeris and tell her that we're going to have to start skinning everything we kill and ripping out their teeth. Maybe she'll be able to find someone who needs their materia built up, but the Planet only knows when that's going to happen." He took a step toward the pen, reaching his hand out to touch the feathers of one of the birds. Cloud stood behind Zack, keeping both hands away from the gate.

"They're cute in that disturbing kind of way," Cloud explained, "like—"

Zack turned, scoffing at the blonde. "They aren't disturbing, really. They actually look like you. Big head, spiky yellow hair, and the way your toes curl when you're cold kinda looks like talons."

"Oh, thanks. Now I look like some big stuffy bird. I don't like the things, but they are pretty useful."

"You know what'd be funny? When, after all this is done and over with, you being proven wrong about the entire thing with this Zolom, I ship you off with the birds into the wild. I wonder—would you be considered a girl chocobo or a boy? I'm looking at both, and I just can't pick."

"And if I was to throw you in there they would pluck out your eyes. Wait—what's that attached to the bird's neck?" Cloud walked forward, next to Zack, putting both feet up on the fence. He leaned forward, his shoulder jutting into Zack. After a moment of noticing the scent, a mixture of sandalwood and cherry blossoms, Zack nearly leaned forward into the blonde's hair to smell deeply.

A small strand of Cloud's hair tickled his nose. "Chocobo-head, are you using the girl's shampoo?"

Cloud leaned back up, dangling a small red ball in front of Zack's eyes. "I think it's a Summons. Heaven's know why it's attached to a bird, but I don't think I care. I think I like it."

"Watch yourself. It'll probably drop something big on your head if you aren't careful. They never really liked me much."

Zack watched the small ball in Cloud's hands roll on the little string. "Well, maybe you just didn't treat it right. They don't like it when you don't call them out often or forget to be nice. They aren't like normal materia; they're temperamental."

"How do you know that?"

Cloud wrapped the small string around his wrist, the materia dangling. "Materia Training One-Oh-One. Main training course you have to go through at the Academy."

_Damn, I forgot how many classes I slept through._ Zack scratched his spiky black hair. "Err, maybe they added it later on?"

"Probably," Cloud agreed, nodding his head in agreement.

* * *

"Feel like a fool, huh Zack?" Cloud whispered, dropping the reins to the chocobo. The two other chocobos skidded to a halt in the muck, the group silent.

Before Zack's eyes was what could only have been the Midgar Zolom, spiked on top of a broken tree, the wood spiking through its scaled skin to the top of its head. The entrance to the Mythril mines was covered in blood and gore and Zack heard someone behind him, probably Aeris, brutally coughing and hacking.

"Well, it looks like you were right, Cloudy. That thing's really ugly, especially when there's a tree sticking through it. So, this is what the mighty Sephiroth can do with anything he doesn't like."

"Anything that gets in his way." Tifa slapped the reins to the chocobo she and Aeris shared, making the animal move closer to Zack. "He'll do anything, kill anything, and break anything to get what he wants."

"Fundamentally, a monster shrouded in black leather, without a soul and without a fret," Red stated stiffly. Zack looked to the back of Barret's chocobo, seeing Red sitting on a small sleigh attached to the chocobo's back.

He turned back, giving off a low whistle. "Yeah, don't thonk you could have said it better, Red. This is what he can do."

"And," Cloud murmured, almost too low for Zack to hear, "I will kill him."

* * *

**Please Review!**


	24. Interlude Five: Take Out

Author Notes: There is sex, kiddies. Granted, it's not very good sex, or so I think, but there is sex. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to put it here because, to be frank, I didn't want to have sex going on between two characters before Zack and Cloud got together.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life-- the end.

* * *

Interlude Five: Take Out

"Zack, I want take-out."

Zack sighed, looking up from the rim of his beer. The redhead lay lazily on the floor next to the couch that Zack sat on, throwing a small ball up into the air. It made a faint whooshing sound as it followed the same pattern over and over again. Up—down—up—down. It was driving him insane.

"Pizza or Wutaian?"

Zack looked back down to his beer, sliding his thumbnail under the sticker plastered to the glass. "I don't care, Reno. You can pay for it this time—you killed me last night at poker. I'm still trying to find out where you hid my underwear." He looked up in time to see Reno put the ball on the table, scratching his nose with his empty hand. "I mean, you don't even wear my size."

"Sure, I'm lanky an' a fuckin' drunk, but you're tiny 'round the waist. I ain't sure why you're so surprised. Gotta say though, they are going on my wall once I figure out how to laminate the damn things. Put the words 'the hardest pair of underwear to get into' underneath it. How does that sound?"

"You haven't been in my underwear…" The SOLDIER trailed off at a moment. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. You were that desperate to say that you got into my underwear that you had to steal them from me? Well, that just makes you lame. Oh, and I think we should get Wutaian; probably would taste better with the sourness of this damn hangover."

Reno propped his head on his hands, looking at Zack with his emerald eyes. "Zack, why do ya hate me so much? Your words cut deep, my dearest drinking pal who I'll buy Wutaian shit so we can get drunk all over again later on. What kinda guy wouldn't treat his poor-ass best friend to some well-deserved food?"

The black-haired teenager laughed. "Since when am I your best friend? Or, better yet, which secretary found out you were fucking their sister? And how drunk are you planning on makin' me get with you just so you don't feel all alone?"

"Know me too well, my black-haired princess. An' it was Jeanne. You know her? Palmer's new chicky? The one with those long legs and big knockers? Yeah, she was fun a couple a times, but now I think I like the chick she works with, and 'cause I've banged both o' them now I ain't sure what I'm supposed ta fucking do. Should I keep fuckin' them both or am I supposed to pick one, or pick none? Damn, I think this shit'd be easier if I wasn't so damn horny all the time." Reno picked up a pack of cigarettes, pulling out one, slipping it between his chapped lips. "Gotta light?"

Zack reached into his pocket, pulling out his matches. "Here. I think I quit, but I'm not sure why I still carry those damn things around with me everywhere."

"They're like part of you when you quit. And anyway, how the fuck do you 'think ya quit'? It doesn't work like that, toots. You either want a mother fuckin' puff or ya don't. It ain't rocket science." The redhead pulled one black match out, striking it against the back. "An' do you have a phone? I got one somewhere in this dump, but I don't wanna fucking look for the thing. Help a buddy out?"

Placing his beer bottle down, Zack stood, reaching for his jacket that was strung from the nearby hook. "Here." Gently he tossed the phone into the redhead's lap. "Don't spend all of my minutes or I'll kick your ass. I swear I lend my phone to the fucker in platoon seventy-two and he used up not only all of my minutes, but didn't pay for the time he went over."

"Babe, I'm just calling the stupid restaurant down the block—don't worry 'bout me spending all your minutes. Anyway, 'bout spending, you stayin' over tonight?"

It only took a moment to answer. "Yeah, don't want you here alone or you'll end up hanging yourself with your damn indecisiveness. Give me that cigarette while you call; don't want them fucking up the pork with rice again like they did last time."

Reno rolled his eyes, pulling the cigarette from his lips and handing it over. Smoke rolled from his nose and lips, creating an effect like rippling water. It was the first time Zack noticed that Reno's eyes reminded him of green glass, that his lips looked like a dry desert ground, but still rather…kissable. Was this feeling right? What the fuck was going on? This was Reno: cool, confident, sexually explicit, lock your daughter's doors at night Reno. There was nothing gay about him, from his grimy bottom heel to the roots of his crimson wild hair.

"Zack, you okay? You spaced out again. I told the guy to get you a pork lo mien, does that sound good to you? If not you'll just have to suck it up and eat it anyway. What's with that half-dead look on your face? You ain't gunna starve—the guy said it'll only take about an hour to get the shit to us."

The violet-eyed teenager coughed, sitting down on the floor. "Reno, I've gotta ask you something I've been wondering."

Reno gave him a pensive look, leaning down and taking the still smoldering cigarette from Zack's hand. "Okay, wanna be more specific than that? I've done practically everything under the moon."

"Well, Reno, have you ever been with another guy?"

Reno's eyes widened comically, the cigarette dangling from his fingers. After a moment Reno gave a small laugh, his hand lightly shaking as he lifted the butt to his lips. "Is this about that kiss on New Years'? You're supposed to kiss whoever's around you at the time. Don't worry 'bout bein' turned gay. Your precious Aeris ain't giving you anything, but when she decides to, you aren't gunna have to worry about getting it up." He blew out smoke from his lips and Zack noticed his teeth chattering.

"That wasn't what I was talking about, Reno. I mean it: have you ever been with another guy?" Zack was becoming bolder as the moments ticked by, his voice growing.

"Naw… but, I'm willing to try." The redhead snuffed out the cigarette in a nearby ashtray, leaning down less than a few inches from Zack's face. His musky breath, smoky and hot, hit into the raven-haired teen's lips and Zack had to resist the urge to pull the older man's lips to his own. "That's what you were offering right? I think it'd be a learning experience, don't you?"

Before Zack was able to move, Reno crushed his lips against his own, Zack reaching forward and pulling the redhead closer, his hands filled with the fire, the passion. His lips were like the Corel Desert, and he felt the man's tongue dart out, attempting to push its way into his mouth. He obliged, moving his body so his back was against the floor, Reno climbing on top of him, pushing his tongue deeper into Zack's mouth.

Reno groaned, putting his hand on Zack's thigh. The redhead's knee slipped between his legs, and Zack sighed.

Pulling himself away from Zack, Reno took in a deep breath. "Not too bad for a novice, righ'? Been wanting ta do that for weeks."

The SOLDIER didn't know what to say—since when had Reno held pent-up sexual fantasies about himself? Weeks? How could he have handled it? Zack had only felt it for a few moments, and was already willing to offer himself to the older man.

"Then, let's get back to it. Don't want to keep you waiting. But whose gunna bottom? Me or you?"

The redhead moaned, leaning down and nipping at Zack's throat. "You'll be bottoming. I'm bigger than you and older. That's how it goes." Quickly Reno leaned up, pulling the shirt over his head. "Anyway, that's what I've been told."

"Told?" Zack rushed, pulling his shirt over his flat stomach, the clothing being thrown carelessly into a random corner. "Who talks about this?"

Reno, now shirtless, unbuttoned his pants and jerked his legs out. He leaned forward, tracing his lips from Zack's collar bone. "Some people?" he whispered, the raven-haired teen feeling the hot, musky breath sliding down to the buckle on his jeans, only stopping for a moment to pull the object loose.

Zack felt his breath hitch in his throat as he felt Reno's warm tongue trace over his navel, down—down—down. The button on his pants snapped, the metal piece falling to the ground. "Oops," Reno purred, unzipping the zipper. "Been a while' y'know." Harsh fabric slid against Zack's erection, causing the raven-haired teen to gasp.

Quickly taking in a deep breath, Zack looked down, Reno's face adorned with a small smirk. "I don't know what the fuck I'm doin'," he explained as he pulled the rest of the cloth from the teen's legs. "I just don't wanna fuckin' wait anymore." He leaned forward, once again capturing Zack's lips in a mind-erasing kiss.

Hot tongues explored one another's mouths, Reno letting one hand explore down to the elastic of his soon-to-be lover's underwear, caressing the few curls that poked from beneath the waist-band. Slowly it inched lower and lower, finally the redhead grabbing hold, gently, to Zack's cock.

A moan escaped from Zack's lips, his body bucking lightly into the touch. Stopping the kiss, Zack stared into the green eyes filled with fire. "Quit fucking teasing me," he panted, reaching forward and pulling at Reno's boxers. "I'm not into games."

"Neither am I. You take this step, babe, and I ain't gunna stop." The Turk looked serious.

"Who the fuck wanted to stop?"

A smirk spread across Reno's face as he licked his lips. Before Zack knew what the redhead was doing, his underwear were ripped from his body and tossed to the side. "You got it then." Another second passed by, Reno sliding his own off his thin hips, kicking them from his ankle. "This is gunna hurt like hell, you know."

"Just put it in and shut up."

Reno mumbled about something and then there was a slick sound. Reno spit into his hand before reaching down to play with himself, coating with a thin layer if saliva. Zack shut his eyes as he felt something at his entrance, prodding the hole. It felt odd, and then a sharp, painful feeling struck, and the teen had to grit his teeth together from screaming or crying out in pain. He too in several deep breaths, squeezing his eyes shut as Reno entered further and further into his body. Inch by inch, Reno moved slowly, something that had surprised Zack—who would have thought that the sex machine would be careful?

Pushing the last few inches in, Zack had to let out a painful grunt. He opened his eyes, noticing the look of concentration across Reno's face. His eyes were open, staring at the teenager below him. There was something in his eyes that made Zack shiver.

"That hurt, didn't it? Didn't mean to. Guess I jus' broke your cherry, right?"

The SOLDIER had to stop himself from laughing; his entire body from the waist down felt one fire. "Yeah, it hurts. Just give me a sec." Taking in a few deep breaths, Zack closed his eyes and gave a sharp nod of the head. "A little more lubrication?" He asked, and reno once again spit into his hand, withdrawing himself a little to help once again coat his erection. After sliding back in, Reno wiping his hand on the nearby pants, Reno placed both hands on Zack's hips, pulling out and then thrusting gently back in. There was something rhythmic about the redhead's movements that made Zack follow; he moved both legs wider before hesitantly placing them around Reno, using this as leverage to move himself back and forward. Their stomach's rubbed together, Zack's dick between them, a jolt shooting through his groin and he bucked his hips up.

A low groan left Reno's mouth and he leaned forward, capturing the younger man's lips in a deep kiss. Zack wrapped his arms around Reno's shoulders, running his fingers through his hair and tilting his head to the side for easier access. His back rubbed against the ground, leaving rugburn on his back and his neck.

Something with the sudden movement caused Zack to let out a loud moan, his eyes visualizing stars. It felt like his entire body was on fire, and he pulled on Reno's hair, causing the redhead to bend forward, giving Zack the ability to roll the two. Zack hit his head on the table as he jerked his body up, pulling both legs from around him, placing them on both sides of the Turk. Reno's green eyes were puzzled, then laughing.

Zack pushed his body back down, hitting the spot that sent stars flying before his eyes. Reno gripped tighter on his hips, jutting the slightly smaller body back and forth, nails digging into the soft flesh.

Zack saw the urgency in Reno's eyes, the loud grunts coming from his chapped lips, his hands clinging harder and thrusts moving faster. Zack could feel something inside of his stomach sing and he made his hips move faster, reaching down with one hand to touch his own erection. Quickly, as Reno's eyes shot wide and his body filling with his release, Zack felt his own member give a twitch, warm liquid coating Reno's stomach. He rode out the last few thrusts before falling forward, his black hair sweaty.

They stayed in that position for a moment, Zack burying his nose into the other's hair. He felt Reno move his hands from his bruising hips to his shoulders, pulling Zack's face to his own. Zack's back was on fire, as well as his ass.

"That was one of the weirdest fucks I've ever had," Zack stated breathlessly as he pulled his lips away. "And one of the more painful."

Reno gave a quick chuckle. "You weren't that bad," he stated this with a straight face, after a moment his lips quirking into a large, pleased smile. "Not as good as you can be, but we'll get there."

Black eyebrows quirked up, and Zack shifted his hips, the softening member still inside. "I'm going to take it out now," Zack warned as he pulled his body forward, feeling it pull out, a release of fluids coming with it.

"Fuck, you bled all over me!" Reno whined as he looked down. Zack followed his example, seeing blood and white liquid seeping onto the redhead's thighs, into the carpet.

"Well, you were the one who stuck it in. Deal with the consequences." The SOLDIER laid himself next to Reno, slinging his arm across the other's chest, his other hand touching the tattoos on his face. "And I liked the scars better. They fitted you more than these red things." He could feel the thin scars in the center of the red ink.

The redhead scoffed, reaching over, blindly pulling for some type of clothing. It was Zack's torn boxers, which he then used to clean himself one-handedly. "Glad ta know ya like my cut up face—" he was cut off by a chiming. "Fuckin' time you came!" Reno yelled to the door. "Just open the door and leave it on the floor. There's twenty gil under the keys."

Zack widened his eyes. "You mother fucker!" He yelled, nearly pulling himself away, the only thing stopping him was the sudden flare in his backside, which caused him to fall back. "You had this entire thing planned out!"

Reno only smirked. "Nine weeks of waiting is too damn long. You thought I'd wait? Fuckin' A, you gotta be shitting me. You're lucky I didn't take you last night with you lying in my bed. You think I can't handle my liquor?"

The Wutaian men stuck one hand forward, placing the bag on the floor, then pulling out the twenty gil note. "Didn't do nothing wrong this time!" he yelled, and Zack noticed the delivery man's eyes snapped closed. There was water slipping down his cheeks. "Waited ten minutes in the rain to let you finish!"

"Thanks buddy!" Reno snickered, sticking out his tongue at Zack.

The door was closed and Zack let out a deep breath. "You are an evil conniving bastard."

"But," the redhead leaned forward, pressing his lips to Zack's, running his tongue over the raven-haired man's unmoving lips, "you know you wouldn't be able to stomach me any other way."

* * *

**I think that this needs a lot of work, especially with the sex scene (It's rushed, isn't very hot and is pretty damn comical), but I'll say I liked the characterization. I liked how I made Zack and Reno—poor delivery guy. You have to wonder some of what he heard with being the apparent delivery guy for Reno. Damn, I'm reviewing my own story!**

**Please Review! **


	25. Shimmering Entities

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Thirty Two: Shimmering Entities

The ground looked like glass, a shining, shimmering surface and Zack could see his own eyes twinkling in the rainbow-colored Mythril. "Never thought I'd see something like this." He looked up to Aeris, who was leaning down to touch the glassy cave floor.

"It's so beautiful." She ran her fingers over the surface, leaving thin streaks from her fingers on the floor. "I don't want to walk on it—I feel like I would be tarnishing something." Aeris looked up to Zack, her green eyes shining. The color looked like the patch she was running the pads of her fingers over. "I never thought I'd see something so pretty."

Zack put his thumbs through the loops of his pants, gazing out at the walls. There were milky-white splotches in the walls a few meters away, Tifa standing next to them, running her fingers over it. _What's with people touching it? Don't they know that this stuff is mined out of the ground in this place by the ton? They aren't touching uncharted waters._ "I was in the bar, watching Cloud get drunk off his ass," he sent a glare over to Cloud, who didn't even blush in shame, "and I heard a couple of guys—no, not the ones who tried to fuck you—"

"What the hell are you spouting on about?" Cloud shouted. "What are you jabbering?"

"You know, those two guys who were trying to feel you up? Nothing to be embarrassed 'bout. You're young and pretty damn hot, right Tifa?"

Tifa froze, her hand still raised. "H-huh? What?"

"You find Cloud sexy, don't you? I don't wanna ask Aeris, 'cause she's supposed to only think that I'm hot, so can you answer that?" Zack jutted out his hips, rolling on the balls of his feet. "Come on; tell Cloud what you think of him, hmm?"

The woman opened her mouth, then quickly snapped it shut, looking to Cloud and then to Zack. "Well, of course I think that Cloud is attractive. You'd have to be blind to say that he wasn't. You could have said that yourself, Zack." She rolled her words together, an uncomfortable look on her face.

"See? Now, that we've cleared that up, the bartender was talking to me and telling me that the people of Kalm used to work in here, selling the Mythril, but too many monsters were attacking them and killing the workers. Guess we better worry about something attempting to eat us tonight."

"Shi'. I ain't gunna be 'nother one of those nights, is it? Who's gunna be doin' tonight's watch?" Barret's foot tapped on the floor, gun arm dangling.

"It is supposed to be the women tonight, correct Zackary?" Red asked, scratching his paw against the floor, his sharpening nails clawing further into the Mythril.

Zack rubbed his head. "Er, I'm not sure. I think so."

Aeris stood up, placing her hands on her waist. "Yes, Zackary. It's our turn to watch over. I still don't understand why we have to be together while doing it. Tifa and I are as strong as you men."

"I _know_ that Aeris, but we figured that you would want company. Guys can spend hours doing nothing alone, but girls need something to do. Having another girl with you'll be able to kill the time." The ex-SOLDIER smiled.

Cloud snorted. "That's complete and utter bullshit."

"Oh what, you want to say something about what I say, Cloud?" Zack questioned mock-angrily, making a face that caused Tifa and Aeris to begin to laugh. "But seriously, I don't know why it works out that way. If you want to do it alone, be my guest."

"Maybe we can come to some type of conclusion, but I think we should get moving. It's getting cold over here, and we can hope that we can find ground that isn't so diamond-like that we can get the poles for our tents up. Maybe some heat, too." Tifa rubbed her hands against her black skirt, a white residue smearing across the material. "Huh. That's a bit weird."

Red stopped scratching his paws against the floor. "Zackary, please come here for a moment; I require your assistance."

Zack stepped toward the beast, leaning down. "Sure, what is it, Red?" He nearly jumped back when the red-furred experiment swiped his paws against Zack's pants, deep white marks left in its wake. "Holy shit—first I think you're going to be taking some of my parts and then this. What is it?"

"Looks like you shouldn't have touched it," Cloud snickered, giving a small laugh. "Probably isn't dangerous but just gets your hands dirty. I think we should get going."

"I think Cloud is right. We should start going. It is getting dark, and with the dark the temperature will drop. It would be best to go now." Aeris clapped her hands together, then fumbled lightly with the pack on her back, adjusting the straps.

"And just watch—we're all going to end up with feelers growing out of our heads from touching that shit."

* * *

"I say we claim this as our territory for the night," Zack exclaimed as he threw the bag down onto the floor onto the first soil-based ground he had seen since had entered the Mythril mines. He looked over his shoulder to see the others trailing behind, Barret carrying Red's headdress. "How'd you get that?"

"Last blob that tried ta eat 'im got his ear. He wanted ta give it air." Barret answered, kneeling down and placing the headdress on the floor, next to Zack's pack. "Didn't want him ta break it, y'know."

Tifa walked forward, yawning. Aeris was next to her and they both shot looks at Zack. _Oh, what the fuck did I do now?_ Zack wondered as they dropped their belongings, their eyes not drawing away from Zack.

"If you are wondering why the women are staring at you, I believe they came to a conclusion about what exactly they wish to do about the time scheduling." Red sat down on the ground, pushing his paws into the dirt. "This feels surprisingly pleasant."

"Oh, you did now?" The raven-haired man looked to the women. Aeris smiled kindly at him, while Tifa had drawn her eyes away from Zack and was now looking at Cloud, who was oblivious. "And let me just guess that Tifa wants to be spending her nights snuggling up to Mister Chocobo-head while me and you are roasting marshmallows over a fire and having make-out sessions in our pj's."

The brunette nodded. "Oh yes, mister strong and sexy," she nearly had to cover her face in shame, Zack noticed, "will be spending his time with me. Is that all right with you? I mean, after all, it is going to be your 'manly time of doing nothing' which means that you must be using this time to do something that no female should ever even think of." Her voice had become something of a giggle.

Zack covered his heart. "Anything for my princess, princess." He took a deep bow, his hair flopping loosely. "And what I do isn't all that weird, and you're supposed to talk about everything with the people you're going to be trying to court. That's what I'm supposed to be doing, you know."

"Of course I know you're trying to 'woo' me Zack." Aeris laughed, waving her hand in front of her face. "And you know that you don't need to. I'm not going to stop caring for you, so just calm down and act like yourself. Holy knows you're still going to act the same."

"So you're expecting everything from me? You know all of my slick moves and words, hmm?"

"You're about as predictable as that rock. In a few hours, I promise it'll still be exactly where it is," Cloud interjected, looking over at a rock, pointing his finger to it. "Just watch."

The black-haired man shrugged. "We'll see about that, kiddo. Now, why don't you all go open up your prepackaged cans of food then hit the sack. Aeris and me can take care of things tonight."

* * *

Aeris and Zack lay huddled in a sleeping bag, the woman reading a paperback novel, a materia strung on a string around her neck lighting only the page in front of her. Zack looked over to see a look of concentration on her face, one finger between the pages she was reading and the next two. That explained her well enough in personality—she was intelligent (reading a book), creative (tying the materia to a string), considerate (the light only shining on the page), and prepared to continue on (fingers between the pages). This was what Zack needed to take care of him when he was getting older; he needed a woman who wasn't afraid to be herself. He needed someone like Aeris. He needed Aeris. She was his rock, and he was the gravity pushing on her.

But it was too quiet. "Aeris, do you think you could talk to me?"

She smiled, putting the book down on her chest. "Of course. What do you want to talk about? Maybe I could tell you about the Ancients. I remember you had wanted to talk to me about it a while ago, and since you learned some stuff while we were in the Shinra building, you may have some concerns. How about we talk about that?"

Zack nodded. "Sure, let's talk about that. It'll be kind of nice, I guess."

The woman gave a quick cough, sitting up. "So, why don't we start from the beginning?"

* * *

"It is said that the Planet was created by the goddess Minerva. She had cast herself away from another universe, another planet more specifically, after disease, famine and war destroyed and ravaged the planet that she and other gods and goddesses called home. The goddess of war there, she promised herself that she would cultivate and grow another Planet where she was the only the bringer of destruction but of creation, too. Bringing her nine daughters with her to create the newest planet, Gaia, she managed to create the human race in a place where no organisms had ever survived before. Moss grew and cells replicated, and after billions of years the Planet came into true fruitation, giving birth to the Cetra people.

"They say that she had bestowed some of her powers to the people, allowing them to know of the other worlds so they could create their own beautiful world and learn from the mistakes of this other planet. The first hundred generations grew and flourished like the new blooms of spring. Deeply religious, the Cetra traveled from place to place learning of the planet and its surroundings, moving from islands to main lands. The people, when crossing other tribes, did not fight but exchanged words of peace and belief.

"A few people separated from the group to create non-nomadic homes. They wished to create towns, to settle down and allow the crops to grow and the herds to multiply. These are the ancestors of the humans, like you and like half of me. The Cetra accepted these people as an act of Minerva, and continued their religious journey.

"Sometime, about two thousand years ago, the daughter of Minerva supposedly begged her mother to allow her to the Planet, to be one with the people and to learn from them. Her name had been Jenova, a beautiful and intelligent goddess, who had been looking down upon the people of the Planet for years and wished to feel their feelings, to see the things they saw with their own eyes.

"Minerva allowed Jenova to leave, to go down to Gaia. She was sent in the form of an eternally beautiful Cetra woman in a cocoon. The tales of the Cetra state that she had fallen from the sky, colliding into the most fertile part of the Planet, causing eruptions of the Planet's Mako to spew forth from the ground. This revitalized her. When they found out of the woman who had come from the sky and claimed herself to be the daughter of Minerva, she was accepted into the Cetra with open arms.

"But the attention had taken over her and controlled her. Jenova was no longer the goddess she had once been, but was now using the people to perform her plans corrupting the souls of the Cetra. She had gone crazy with control.

"The goddess Minerva watched with sadness as her child was corrupted by evil and, to save the people, she and her eight remaining daughters traveled to Gaia and encased Jenova in the lifeblood of the planet she had ultimately destroyed. The Mako had become something frozen, capturing and freezing the goddess in the greenish blue liquid.

"To control the corruption her daughter had created, Minerva released the hell of the planet she had once loved. Famine and disease and war corrupted the Cetra, many being killed off, only a few who could not remember left to survive. These children were taken in by the towns grudgingly and when they matured to an age to survive on their own, they were cast out to find others of their own kind.

"This did not please Minerva, for her name was beginning to become a fiction in the world she had created, but she believed it was necessary for the others of the Planet to grow and prosper. So, in her attempts to leave some lasting effect on the world, with her own hands she created a work of literature that would not, could not, be forgotten. She had, no one knows how, freed the work of art in a place named the '_Promised Land_'.

"Loveless, they had called it, and once one heard of this work of art, no one could forget it. The reason was simple and deliberate—Minerva had written a story that was never finished, never completed. This caused wide-spread confusion through the humans. Many lived and died in search of the ending Act, which no one had ever found. The Cetra, when hearing of this mysterious work of art, believed it to be the working of Minerva. So did the Wutaians, which confused many.

"Some time, not knowable by years, the Wutaians learned of the Goddess Minerva. I can't exactly say how, but they were able to learn while they were isolated. I have my own theories that perhaps they were a group of nomads who knew of everything and were somehow able to survive the destruction and disease, but the point was that the Wutaians somehow were able to come up with this strange contraption that they believed would be able to connect themselves with the goddess. They had plunged themselves deep into the ground, essentially being killed with mako, and then would somehow be able to implant the final memories of the person into tiny spheres of solidified mako. But, most of the time, these mako balls were of things like fire and ice, but occasionally they said the person had been able to connect with the goddess, creating what many think summons materia is."

Aeris bit her lip, taking in a deep breath. "That's all I can remember. I've found out much more about the Cetra since leaving Midgar, but it's getting louder and less comprehensible as we get further from people. I sometimes think it would be easier to go back to the church in the slums—I could never here them there." She yawned and laid her book on the ground, curling her body closer to Zack. "I think I'm going to sleep for a little while if I can. Can I? My head feels kind of fuzzy."

Zack nodded his head, giving the woman a small kiss on the cheek. "Go ahead and sleep, hun. You talked a lot. Go to sleep. I'll finish watching us until the others wake."

* * *

_I hate that rock._

**Then go break it.**

_I don't want to be predictable._

**Then don't be predictable. Changing isn't that hard.**

_I feel like breaking that rock._

**Then do it.**

And that was what he did. Standing up, making sure not to shake Aeris from her sleep, Zack stalked forward to the rock Cloud had pointed to. Without even thinking, Zack drove his fist into the Mythril. He heard the bone in his hand break and the man saw the blood pour down from the broken rock. Strangely satisfied with the blood on the ground, Zack leaned down and pocketed the broken rock in his pajama pants. Faintly, the ex-SOLDIER noticed the white gunk on his hands, some getting into his wounds, but he wiped it on his pants and padded back to the camp, sliding himself into the blankets with Aeris, his eyes already closing.

* * *

**Hehe. I really like this chapter—a lot, actually. I just love the story of Minerva and her nine daughters (which, I might add, was my own (what isn't?) brainchild that was created about thirty one chapters before this one was written) and the story of Jenova. Much more will be revealed later on as the story progresses, so I hope you liked the story as much as I did.**

**Please Review! **


	26. Reverse One: Aversion

Author Notes: So, there was a bit of a problem one of the readers pointed out to me—I wasn't showing anybody other than Zack's point of view. Now, that was the way that it was supposed to be, but I guess it annoyed some people, so I had to come up with a way of getting everybody else's feelings out…oh, the joy in that. Seeing as Zack has limited resources and isn't a psychic, I had to choose between a few other ways to get this all to work. It wasn't fun, at all, but I think I figured out a decent way of getting everybody else's feelings out in the open.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Reverse One: Aversion

Tifa liked the cold; it chilled her bones and her nose, reminding her of times back home where the cold was nothing but common. She loved the scent of the chill and, as the fall changed to winter, she loved to see the sky turn gray. Snow was something she missed the most when she woke in Midgar. Zangen had said that there was no other choice but to move her from Nibelheim to the loathsome city, and Tifa had no other choice but to believe him.

She missed her teacher. He had carried her on his back through the Nibel Mountains, fed her, clothed her, kept her warm when the hypothermia would have otherwise set in, and when they reached Midgar he never once left her side. She had been a teenager then, a fifteen-year-old with a personality too big for herself, but he hadn't cared that she was a bit on the snotty side. Zangen had done everything and more for Tifa, and if she could see him one more time she wouldn't know what to say.

Zangen had been the man that pushed her toward her goals; it wasn't easy the training she was put through, with extreme physical and mental stress, but somehow the older man had helped her. Pain wasn't all that important when you had an idol helping you learn.

Tifa laid her head down on her pillow, looking out of the tent. Cloud was poking the pot that was in the fire with a metal spoon. He was going to burn off part of his hand if he got any closer to the flame, Tifa noticed with a bit of exasperation.

"Cloud—you're going to burn yourself with that metal spoon!" the woman yelled to the blonde, whose eyes shot up from the cooking pot, landing on her. Tifa watched as he shook his head, a small smile on his lips.

"No, Tif. Don't worry 'bout me; I put an ice spell on it. My hand's a little cold, but that's it." Lifting his hand, Tifa saw the green glowing materia on is wrist. A small red materia hung next to it.

_I hadn't expected him to be able to do something like that_, Tifa thought, giving a small wave. "Oh, alright," she added, watching Cloud put the spoon back. _Really, I had thought that he wouldn't know what to do. He doesn't really know how to cook, but I'm too tired to try. _

Tifa closed her eyes briefly, a small flicker of blue invading her senses. Zangen had told her that one day she would begin to feel things for a man, but she hadn't expected it to be with someone like Cloud. But, as she learned from her childhood with Zangen, there was no way of stopping it. Tifa had always had strange ways of falling in love.

With Cloud it had been something that had surprised and shocked the woman. She remembered one day when she was thirteen he had knocked on her door and begged for her to come to the well. At first, she hadn't wanted to go; Cloud had always been rather odd, not really having any friends, but the brown-eyed girl had always felt bad that her friends made fun of him. Sometimes the teasing was about his hair, his lack of a father, his mother who was too young to have a child so old, and his lack of brand new toys; and Tifa knew it had always hurt. She hadn't worried about being made fun of with who her father was.

So, it had been pity that had evoked the girl to join Cloud that night, but when she saw his eyes glow in the moonlight, something inside of her had clinked and she made him promise something with her. He would be her hero…he had promised it. But Zangen had told her that after two years and no word, there was little chance that he was still alive. And so Tifa had lost some of the hope for Cloud, especially after she had needed him, and placed it to her teacher.

Zangen was as old as her father, small gray streaks through his otherwise black hair, but he had been the first person to ever pay attention to her the way she had wanted. While fighting against him, honing her skills as a martial artist, Tifa knew that if she was able to kick just a little higher, to punch at just one degree different he would notice that she was in fact female, that her chest was not just something to hold her martial arts skills back, but something that she wanted to use to please him.

She had given herself to him fully at the age of sixteen and the next morning he was gone like the cold in the coming spring. Tifa had, for one night, been happier than ever imaginable; but now, without even a note of goodbye, she was left without anything.

Opening her eyes, they landed immediately back on Cloud, who was now sitting cross-legged, tapping the spoon against a bowl. Tifa put her hand against her forehead, sending Cloud a smile. Love never seemed to work with her, but she was determined to make Cloud notice that she was female. It had taken years for Zangen to figure it out, but she was willing to wait longer for the blonde. He wouldn't do the same thing, she believed with everything in her, and for that anything was worth the wait.

There was a small kink in her ideal world, and his name was Zackary Fair. She cared for Zack deeply, knew that he was a good, trustworthy man (even if a tad bit scatterbrained), but he was a risk she didn't want to take. She saw how the raven-haired man gravitated to Cloud, how Cloud would be ignorant to the world if it wasn't for the other man, and Tifa didn't like it. She had been through so much unspeakable hurt and to know there was a chance for her to feel that again, that feeling of loneliness and desertion, she would fight against anyone who stood in her way.

To Tifa, Zackary Fair was an obstacle in front of what she wanted from the age of thirteen to twenty. Zangen had shown her that her feelings could be fooled, but the feelings for Cloud Strife couldn't be falsified. He was the star of her life…and there was no trickery to that.

Zackary Fair was the sun, the summer, and Cloud the stars, the winter, so it wasn't possible for them to meet in the sky, right?

* * *

Aeris slung her boots over her shoulder, running her feet through the cold dirt. It soothed her both physically and spiritually; her feet were sore from the constant walking and her mind continued to run at too fast of a pace. There were times where she couldn't sleep, her green eyes roaming the tent, watching Tifa's chest move soothingly up and down, little breaths that reminded her that her eyes should have been closed, but she couldn't stop her mind from roaming. Her body felt as jittery as her brain.

Why? She asked herself this often and repeatedly, but there wasn't any straight answer…no, she wouldn't, couldn't, be given a straight answer, because what she was worried about was something that no woman with a straight boyfriend would worry about.

Another man. Aeris was terrified of another man, not even a man by physical or mental standards. Cloud was someone that was a formidable opponent, but Aeris hadn't wanted that. She had been willing to hand Zack over to him if it made the ex-SOLDIER happy. She had been willing to hand Zack over to Reno when she had found out about the affair, but Zack had said it was nothing, that he loved her.

Marriage…he had asked her to marry him. That was the only thing that convinced Aeris that Zack hadn't been serious about the red-haired man, that it was only a carnal pleasure Zack indulged himself in. It was common, she knew, for men in Shinra to have multiple partners and be married, and though it bothered her to no end, she was willing to deal with lipstick on his collar, the scent of sweat on his skin; smoke.

Oh, Zack had told her that he hadn't smoked in years, but every time he came to the church after being with Reno he smelled of cigarettes. It bothered Aeris perhaps more than the relationship—he was lying. She knew he had problems with monogamy, yet he promised to settle down with her and marry. Aeris knew that the very idea sent the man into fits of panic, but he seemed to forget of those fears when he was next to Cloud.

Cloud was an angel, a boy who was sad too much; but, when he smiled he lit up a room. He was innocence in human form, yet at the same time there was something hidden within the blonde. Something, Aeris thought, that wasn't so nice. But, as Aeris' toes ran through the brown dirt, she didn't worry about that.

But there was something different about Cloud. Something, Aeris knew, that subconsciously attracting Zack to him like a bee to the nectar of a flower. Crystal clear from the moment she had laid eyes on Zack holding a bleeding boy in her garden—potent emotions that the brown-haired woman couldn't wrap her mind around. Difference was not something common and Cloud was marked with it.

There was a time when Aeris was willing to be submissive, to bend to what she considered the power of fate, but what said that submissiveness was fate? What if fate wanted her to stand strong, to keep Zack by her side? There was love, quite a bit of it, and wasn't that enough for her? Fate had dictated Zack into crashing into the Sector Five's church like an angel falling from the sky, right into her flowerbed. It was her flowerbed, thus it was her fate.

The voices in her head were loud, telling her things about fate and destiny, love and passion, but Aeris tried her hardest to ignore them. Various answers only led to further confusion and that was one thing Aeris had enough of. How sadly amusing that the voices of the planet seemed to have better ideas than what her own mind could come up with.

Cloud was the answer to every question. Who was strong enough to be with Zack? Who was drawn to Zack? Who drew Zack in? Who could take care of Zack? Who could turn Zack into a man with only one lover?

She couldn't be strong enough for Zack, nor did she draw him in or turn him into a firm believer of monogamy. But when Cloud was around, Zack didn't act like himself. Of course he still had that annoying little habit of hitting on anything and everything, the little nicknames like toots and sweetheart, doll and princess, but it wasn't the same.

And so, when Aeris saw the growing fondness between the two, she knew that there was one chance to see if it was true.

Her body, the chastity, the virginity—she was willing to give it to Zack. Never, in all of her life, had Aeris even thought of doing something without true commitment of marriage. If he wanted her, she would give herself to him. Women did it for people they loved, and she was a woman…wasn't she?

Aeris sighed, digging her toes deeply into the coldness. There would be another night without much sleep.

_Oh, Zackary, I don't know what you want me to do. Do I hand you away or hold you tighter? Will either action produce the same outcome?_

She decided to fight, Tifa doing the same. They hadn't even needed to share more than a few moments of passing glances to know of exactly what the plan was. Because, as the brown-haired woman figured out, there was no plan to love or war…there was just an outcome.

* * *

**So, how did you like this Reverse Chapter? Sure, it isn't exactly my favorite, but I guess that it does its job well enough. I hope that you guys give your opinion on it. I hope this clears out at least some of your confusion about what the other characters are feeling. **

**Please Review!**


	27. Three Tone Meeting

Author Notes: I'm getting more and more excited by the chapter—it's getting fun. I'm just waiting for the next chapter and the one after that because I really like Yuffie. She's just so damn annoying and I really hope I pin her character. I hoped I pinned the characters in this chapter too.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Thirty Three: Three-Tone Meeting

Zack felt his eyes open groggily, the light stinging horribly. He blinked once, then twice, and tried to lift his hand to scratch the gunk from the corners of his eyes, but noticed that his hands were not moving. In fact, Zack noticed with a twinge of fear, nothing in his body was moving. His hands were frozen in place, his muscles stitched together. There was nothing from his eyes to his toes.

"It's funny seeing you tied up."

Trying to open his eyes again, the violet-eyed man noticed how his eyes drooped downward and every labored breath took more and more strength as the moments passed. Drugs. Zack noticed the signs as he fought through them, barely picking up his head, the blurry shapes before his fading in and out of view. Zack hated sleeping agents; they didn't go well with the mako in his system, something about Hojo playing God and wanting at least one viable way of knocking any SOLDIER out with something smaller than his pinky finger.

"Zackary Fair—I had expected more from you. You hadn't noticed the signs?"

The world turned again and Zack felt his stomach knot into a ball. That voice, the condescending voice had said more horrifying things than what he had actually said, but he knew it well enough.

"Tseng—" Zack slurred, using all of the strength in his body to open his eyes and focus them. A few bodies moved in front of him; shock of blonde hair, nothing like Cloud's, moving away with a gasp. "Tseng?" he repeated, twisting his head to the side. Something poked his jugular and the cold metal of a needle slid into his skin, a feeling of fire screaming in his veins.

"That should help you begin to lose the drowsiness, Fair." Opening his eyes, Zack saw Tseng's Wutaian features: large, coal black eyes; thick black hair tied at the nape of his neck; the small black dot in the center of his forehead; a look of impassiveness across his face. "Are you able to see me?"

"Yes," Zack grumbled, shaking his head to clear some of the drowsiness. "You seem to get uglier by the day," he added sarcastically, feeling the pressure and coldness of the steel around his wrists. "Shackles?"

Tseng nodded his head harshly, standing straight and putting both hands behind his back. "Always such acidic words, Zackary. I wonder if you even understand how terrible they can be. If I hadn't known you for so long, I would perhaps be insulted, but, because I do know you, I find it easier to ignore you." Moving out of the way, Tseng motioned to the others tied to various rocks. "They had less powder in their systems than you, which leads us to believe—"

Reno, who was kneeling next to Cloud, finished Tseng's words. "You either licked the fuckin' rock or punched it. You've got a bunch of cuts on your hands. Might wanna take care of that sooner or later, babe."

Zack felt the wounds on his hands, remembering his fist colliding into the rock last night, his promise to himself…

"Oh, fun." Zack desired nothing more than to scratch his head. He squinted his eyes, seeing the others waking groggily from their sleep. "How'd ya drug them?"

"We didn't. Just had Elena slip into their tents and force feed the shit to them." Reno jerked his head to a woman who looked vaguely familiar. "Jus' joined a few days ago."

Elena gave a shaky smile to her co-workers, handing over a small bottle of pills to Tseng. "Thank you sir!" she exclaimed, Zack noticing how her breath hitched when her commanding officer reached forward and took the pills. "I'm proud to be of any service for you!"

The woman's smile suddenly clicked in Zack head and he made a yelp. "Hey, you were the chick in the bathroom in the Sector Six slums. You were shitting your brains out—you had me go get you medicine. Gave me that kill-me-by-flowers-and-girlness perfume. Remember me? Should've expected you were a fucking Turk—had only half of your screws tight and a penchant for ass problems. Tseng doesn't get enough, Reno gets too much, Rude can't locate where his is, that fucking traitor likes shooting people there and you can't keep anything in it. Fuck, Tseng, you guys just keep gettin' more and more stupid as time goes by. Next you'll take on someone whose head is an ass."

The blonde's cheeks flamed. "I—I… You don't talk to Mister Tseng that way!" Her voice was mortified and squeaky.

"Look, lady, I've known Tseng for longer than you've known how to shoot a gun. I can tell you exactly what the fucker wants in his coffee, what time he eats dinner every night and the past two people he's slept with since he was fifteen. And, I can add, it wasn't with you; so shut your yap. You're wakin' up my buddies and I don't think they'll be very happy." Zack twisted his cuffs around his wrists as the Turk was distracted by Barret's sleepy grumble.

Rude walked forward, from his place a few meters away, leaned his head down and whispering something into Reno's ear. The bald man looked blankly up to Zack and then to Tifa. His lips grew thin and the redhead snickered loudly.

"You think we did this on purpose, don't ya?" Reno leaned casually against the wall of the glowing Mythril. "Shinra doesn't exactly wanna see you righ' now, sure, but they wouldn't send four Turks to go searching for your asses." Putting his hand on his pocket, Reno pulled out a crimpled sheet of paper, coughing into his hand mockingly for a moment and pretended to adjust a pair of reading glasses. "Turks new mission is to go exterminate Sephiroth because yada, yada, yada. The fuckin' guy's nuts: killed that Prez an' then some how destroyed the dick's funeral. The new Prez wants Sephiroth captured, dead or alive, which basically mean we can torture the fuck out of him. The rest says we gotta get him no matter what, blahdy, blah, blah. Nuthin' in here says we were supposed to be trying to find your wild asses." He crumpled the paper into the shape of a ball and threw it casually to the floor.

"Elena, distribute the drug once again to the others. Keep Fair awake," Tseng barked out the order harshly, causing the woman to jump up, eyes wide. "We wouldn't want one of them bothering our pleasantries, would we?" Tseng's coal eyes were smoldering and Zack had to glance away.

The black-haired man attempted to shrug his shoulders. "'Course you wouldn't." Zack leaned against the wall, resting his head on the greenish-blue Mythril. "So, you didn't want to find us? Then why'd ya drug us?"

"Accident," Rude stated, the first word Zack had heard from the man during the entire exchange.

Reno snorted in agreement. "We had ta spray the place down so when we came in nothing would eat us or sumthin'. It actually worked; most of the things that would've eaten us got drugged to all hell and back. Not eatin', as you can see, but we did find you drugged out of yur fuckin' mind. Guess you could've been counted as someone tryin' to eat us, I guess." He picked at his nails boredly, biting at the cuticle on his thumb.

Zack clinked his two wrists together, rubbing the steel against the rock behind him. If it were possible, the violet-eyed man would rub off his hands just to get loose. The smirking looks from Reno and Tseng, the blank looks from Rude and the embarrassed looks from the new girl, Elena, Reno had called her, were getting on his nerves. Surely scrapping his arms together was better than looking at the Turks for much longer.

"That's nice. Now, where is that traitorous bitch? I figured she'd be hiding somewhere around here with her tail between her gaping legs. Tseng, old buddy, how shitty does she feel? Really?" There was a small jutting rock that the ex-SOLDIER pushed against the cuffs, causing the light sound of metallic grinding.

Tseng rolled up the cuff of his shirt smoothly, his fingers working deftly on the thin white material. "How tactless, Fair. She is doing well, if you must know. Jessie was actually promoted to fifth in command, just after Raiden and Larc. Essentially, because of making your life unpleasant, she has gone up in the ranks. Interesting, no? Destroying people's bodies and souls gets you upgraded in the world." Tseng stepped forward, his shoes all but glowing in the Mythril light. "Hadn't that been your plan to grow in the ranks of Shinra?"

It had been, and Zack knew it. He had screwed people out of their spots at the Academy, screwed them out of classes and rooms, screwed people out of their dignity, even screwing Aeris out of a normal, healthy relationship. Zack Fair wasn't at home with himself until he screwed over as many people as humanly possible.

"Whatever, Tseng. So, where is she? I expected that if I saw the rest of you I'd see her." Clink. One of the metal cuffs was beginning to come loose.

"Playing political sabatoge and protecting Rufus. It would have been either Reno or my duty, but because of certain circumstances it was decided that it would be easier for her to stay and for us to leave. Also, readying for the inauguration."

Reno leaned over to Elena. "Ya know that's why chicky here was hired. They had some big problem over at Midgar—Prez's dead body got stolen or somethin' and they suspected Sephiroth was behind it. Ah, I don't know. Whatever. No skin offa my nose." He swung his lanky arm over her shoulder, causing her face to heat up.

Zack looked to the woman. "Keep your pants up, lady. Anyway, I don't think Reno's into formaldehyde perfume or the chicks that wear it. Guess you can say you're lucky."

"He's my boss!" she squeaked, pulling herself away from the redhead. He stumbled momentarily before catching himself, looking wounded. Zack saw his hand go to his face, subconsciously touching the small red marks under his eyes.

"Yeah, people have a thing 'bout screwing their bosses. Too bad probably everyone 'round here except for you, Cloud and Aeris have done it at least once. It's fun, if you wanna know the truth," Zack explained this like the woman was a small child. "Looks like you don't want Reno. Can't blame ya 'bout that one. He's a pain in the ass." He waited for a minute, expecting a few words from Reno, but they never came. Rather, the black-haired man noticed Reno look around for a moment, scratch his nose and reach into his pocket to pull out a half-empty pack of cigarettes.

Clink. The other side came lose and Zack freed both of his wrists slowly, to keep the Turks from seeing. The metal slid off, hitting the ground a little too loudly. Before he had the possibility to try to cover up the sound, Elena had already pulled out her gun and turned it upside down, bringing the metal swinging down against Zack's skull. There was a flash of white-hot fire against Zack's eyelids and he grunted painfully. It felt as though his skull had split apart, the brains inside rattling like they were being bounced around in a cage. A deep ringing echoed in his ears and he couldn't even wonder what it was from the intensive amount of pain.

"Shit! What the fuck do you think you're doing!" Zack heard Reno yell harshly, but his mind was not able to completely understand. He could here brain cells screaming in protest as they were being brutally slaughtered from the metal butt of the woman's gun. Who knew she could hit so damn hard?

"You can't go 'round fuckin' hitting people," Reno ranted, the sound of the gun being tossed across the floor, away from the blonde and probably headed toward the silent Turk. "You could've killed him, and that ain't what we need ta be doin'. Tseng."

Zack looked back up, his eyes once again bleary. Tseng sent a wave of green to wash over Zack's skull and the throbbing pain began to disappear as quickly as it had been summoned. "Harter, I suggest that you watch where you aim the gun in the near future, especially when it involves anyone in Avalanche. I know that our boss is going over a new plan, and thus those orders I was briefed about in Midgar will be followed. You know of what I speak of, correct?"

Zack's head swam with confusion. What were they going on about? Why wasn't he supposed to get hurt? Nothing made sense; it was all just flopping over the side, like water sloshed in a pan.

"Sorry sir," Elena answered, her voice restraining any emotion, though Zack could hear a small hitch in her words. "I won't do it again, sir!"

Zack felt his arms, which weighed the entirety of his body, and tried to lift them. Tseng saw this and once again, pulling out the small bottle, administering a pill into the black-haired man's mouth, shutting it and forcing the pill to go down without liquid. "You aren't the enemy right now, Fair. It would be best for you to stay here for a little while as we depart. We will untie your comrades, as it seems you have already completed your own rescue. Sinclair—"

Zack's eyesight was blurring, his head already leaning down, too much for his body to hold up. The redhead smirked, looking over to Elena, who nodded. "Let's get the rest of them untied. Then what are we goin' ta be doin'?"

The woman straightened her back. "We will be going to Junon to help celebrate the inauguration of our newest President, Rufus Shinra. Then he will be sent over to the other side in hopes to catch Sephiroth, who was said to have crossed the ocean. Correct?" She looked to Tseng, her brown eyes pleading.

Tseng rubbed his fingers against his skull. "Brilliant, Harter. Now Fair knows of the plans. Don't smirk, Reno." the Wutaian man looked over to the redhead, who was now tightlipped, attempting to prevent a laugh from escaping.

Zack couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and they shut and Zack fell into the cool bliss of sleep. He could feel two hands; cold and militaristic hands picked him up before he fell into the beauty of unconsciousness.

* * *

"So they're heading over to Junon, then across the ocean to the other side," Tifa repeated, putting her hand over her mouth and yawning. "But I don't think we should leave yet. Too tired."

Red lay on the blankets in the male's tent, falling asleep on the ground. Zack noticed how tired the group was, and nodded his head. "I'm tired too. Got double-dosed with that medication shit. They sprayed it all over the rocks."

Cloud, who was lying next to Zack, huddled in blankets, nodded his head. "Told you," he whispered, cuddling his blonde head deeper into the pillow he rested on.

Barret had yet to wake up. He was wrapped crudely in what could have been passed off as a tarp, probably triply drugged compare to the rest. Zack knew that the Wutaian must have given him more than the rest because of his size.

"We should just get some sleep and worry 'bout this later. That lugger isn't waking up for a while and I can't even stand. Let's just stay in here. I don' wanna move."

Aeris yawned, pushing her hair out of her face. "I have no objections," she whispered.

"Good, 'cause I wasn't planning on moving. I would get stuck having to pull around that monster of a man, and I don't want to fall over and die."

* * *

**So, I liked this chapter, especially some of the stuff I hinted at, mildly. I hope I got the characters down—if you don't think so, can you tell me if you think any of the characters are out of character? It would really help me a lot, you know. I'm not sure what I'd do without you guys, really. Anyway, I hoped you liked the chapter!**

**Please Review! **


	28. The Beast and the Harlot

Author Notes: As a little bit of help to you, I've decided that every few chapters or so I am going to put up a Reverse (Avalanche)/ Rebirth (Enemy (ex-Rufus))/ or Remission (other character (ex- OC, like the two men in Kanon, or Elmyra). I figured that this would show you more than just Zack's journey, but show what the others are doing important things too. I'm planning on having one of these chapters every few chapters, like between seven and twelve. I'm glad you guys liked the first so much—it was a pain tow write.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end. I also do not own the name of this chapter, which comes from a band named Avenge Sevenfold. I liked it and really, it fit perfectly into the story.

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Chapter Thirty Four: The Beast and the Harlot

It didn't take long for the group to leave the Mythril Mines after they woke from their sleep, Barret roaring about the Shinra, the rest of the group attempting to ignore him. There was something free in the air that made Zack feel like being drugged by the Turks not so horrible. He felt refreshed and the sun was shining… and, as he looked out to see the terrain the group would have to cover, noticed nothing but ever-going trees.

"Forest? Oh, why do you hate me?" He raised his arms in the air, looking into the blue, cloudless sky. What was he supposed to do other than walk through the never-ending trees? There wasn't much choice in the matter; the group would just have to suck it up and walk…through forest.

"It isn't so bad," Aeris stated, placing her hand on Zack's arm, smiling up at him. A rather short woman, but she was still able to look into Zack's eyes when she spoke.

Lowering his arms, Zack groaned theatrically. "No—I'm going to die!"

This caused Aeris to laugh, patting him a few times consolingly. "Why do you hate it so much? It's so pretty and natural."

Zack opened his mouth, but had the words stolen from his voice box. "Because," Red stated, digging his paws into the dirt, "it's full of monsters and trackers. There is also the problem of insects and hives of swarming bees, not to mention the man-eating traps set on the ground or the terrain, which can kill in less than a moment if you step in the wrong place at the wrong time. I, for one, am not looking forward to this situation either. Also, last night in my drug-induced sleep, I dreamed of this place."

"What them dreams 'bout? They 'bout us getting' killed?"

Red jerked his head. "No. A harlot came to steal our belongings. She was a rather unpleasant sight, if you will; but it made me uneasy. It was in this forest—"

Cloud, who had been lurking in the back with the women, spoke up sharply, "And how would you know it was this forest? There are thousands exactly alike to this one—I've seen with my own eyes this exact place dozens of times. Anyway, it was just a dream."

For a moment Zack looked to the red-furred beast and then out into the open area. "Well, we'll stay a bit more on guard. If the Turks were able to side-sweep us then I don't have many doubts that this harlot, as you call her, might wanna jack us of all we've got. It isn't much, but it's enough." Scratching his nose, the ex-SOLDIER felt a set of eyes watching him, staring. Turning, Zack saw Cloud, who was glaring contemptuously at his back.

Choosing to ignore the blonde, Zack gave a short smile to Barret, who continued to mumble (just a little louder than his normal voice) about his lack of options.

"Look, Bossman, it could be worse. I mean, you could have some freakishly weird disease that makes nipples grow out of your head…or something like that. Are my leadership skills that sucky that you don't even want to be trying to save the planet?" The smile had dropped from his face, hostility sprouting from his eyes.

"Ain't sayin' tha', ain't sayin' tha'." Barret held up his gunarm and hand in defeat. "I wanna save the planet—I'm Avalanche, ain't I? Nuthin', let 'lone your spiky-assed leadin' is gunna make me leave. Crisis for the Plane', 'member?"

* * *

The trees grew thick with lush, green leaves and dark branches, small fruit littering below every other tree, nuts and moss scattering the ground the six trudged through. Their feet disturbed paths that couldn't have been treaded in years, away from the normal path.

The reason had been simple enough—get away from the main road and you get away from any other person who would wish the group harm. The Turks walked through the Mythril Mines for reasons unknown and Zack wasn't exactly hyped up to go against them again, especially when he knew their stock of poisons far surpassed any basic knowledge of anti-poisons. Aeris knew quite a bit about the Planet, but if Zack was dying he didn't want to deal with wishy-washy voices talking at rapid speeds in his girl's head.

"You think anyone is actually following us?" Tifa questioned.

Zack avoided stepping on a rather large, broken branch. "Well, I've got super-sonic hearing and all I can hear is Red panting like a dog. Wait—you still haven't explained what you are. Are you a cat or a dog?"

The red-furred beast's answer did nothing to answer his question. "I am neither—what are you, human or monster?"

"Oh, nice hit. I am what you call a man; may be kinda hard for you to think of, considering the fact that you walk on four legs and have a tail," he retorted back quickly.

Red snorted. "Oh yes, the frivolities of two feet." It wasn't an answer.

"Don't be dissin' what you haven't tried. Well, you can't try, but that's beside the point. Barret, can you tell our lovely four-legged friend what it's like to walk on two feet?" Zack's fingers fumbled against his shirt, rolling the material between his thumb and pointer finger. For some reason he had been having the same strange feeling in his stomach, fingers itching uncontrollably.

Barret coughed once, then twice for good measure. "It's…it's good. Don't gotta worry 'bout someone wantin' you ta be on a leash, tryin' ta tie you up an' send ya to the pound, no people shovin' needles into ya 'cause they want your freaky DNA, an' ya can protect them wit' shoes. No getting splinters in 'tween your paws." The ex-SOLDIER didn't even have to turn around to know exactly what the Avalanche leader was doing—scratching his head, no doubt. "Guess they're goo' reasons, right?"

Speeding up so he couldn't hear the answer, Zack's combat boots clinked monotonously against the first sparse land he had seen for hours. In the little clearing no trees stood blocking the sun, or the waning sun for that matter, and there was nothing but eternal purples and blues intermingling with the sky. A small fire had been crushed out recently; there were still faint traces of the smell of burning firewood, the tracks in the dirt still perfect indicators to the man. A few hours ago, tops, someone had been sitting there, roasting something over a fire, pulling out their tents and sleeping bags.

"Someone was here." Zack snapped his eyes away from the ring of rocks around what was once a fire to Cloud. "Not too long ago at that. Red, can you smell anything?"

The rest of the group came to a halt, Red walking forward, sniffing the ground experimentally. His black nostrils flared, the dirt below puffing up in a small cloud of brown. "Yes," Red answered, looking through his good eye straight to Zack, almost into Zack. "Female, not very old. She has an abundance of materia and sugar with her and there's a tang of something metal in one of the nearby trees—" he pointed his snout to a gnarled tree, various punctures in the bark, "—which was most likely caused by a weapon."

"Your deductive reasoning is amazing." Aeris made a small sound with her tongue. "But, how could you possibly know that?"

Watching interestedly, Zack leaned against Cloud, who hissed at him but didn't move. "Yeah, kitty, why don't you tell us how you came to that conclusion? Sure would be interesting."

"First off, I am not a 'kitty' as you so elegantly called me. I am whatever you wish, but one thing I am certain of is that I am no feline. Now, to answer your courteous question, Aeris, I am able to come to my conclusions under three elementary reasons. To begin with, there is the tang of menstrual blood in the air, and as it came from neither yourself nor Tifa, the only reasonable conclusion is that the last person in this area was female. I came to the young conclusion because of the various candy wrappers and sugary substances burned into the stick near the fire, which reeks of chocolate and marshmallows. And lastly, there is an uncommon spell lingering in the air, something which smells of water, and, as none of you own a water-based materia, I am led to my findings."

And sure enough, there was a stick nearby, on the floor covered with half dirt-covered food, a few candy wrappers lying underneath a patch of rocks. There was also the feeling of water in the air, something Zack knew he wouldn't have noticed if not for Red pointing it out. And, from the small blushes and scandalized look on Aeris's face, he knew it was true of the…he couldn't even think the word. It bothered him to think of something that was put forward so bluntly. Just…yuck.

Red brushed his tail against the ground softly, the movement causing a few fallen leaves to quiver and fly. "Now that you are done with that, may I ask if we will be spending the night here, or should we continue on? Whoever the woman was, she is perhaps miles away and I cannot see her returning. And, to be frank, I can smell fatigue in your bones, as well as the others. Afterall, my dreams cannot take place, right?"

"Naw, I think we shou—" Zack immediately felt Cloud pull away in warning. "Alright, fine. We rest for now, only 'cause we've been walking for a good eight hours. I guess we've covered enough land. Red, you're on look-out tonight."

"I thought it was our turn?" Cloud and Tifa asked at the same time, Zack seeing Tifa give a small laugh and raise her hand to her hair in what could only be called embarrassment.

Cloud pushed Zack's head away with his hand, nodding to Tifa. "It was supposed to be our turn tonight, wasn't it?"

"I am fine with this new arrangement. I believe Zackary is doing it not because he does not trust you two to protect camp, but for the fact that my nose is superior to your human noses, and thus I can smell intruders. Is that not correct, Zack?" Red glared with one golden eye out to the raven-haired man, who immediately nodded.

"Not that I don't like you guys, but with some chick on her you-know-what, we don't knew what she could do. Teenagers can be kinda weird and wired, especially if she's using sugar as some kind of form of MM."

Aeris looked at him strangely. "Zack, what is MM?"

"Uh, it's a drug in Midgar. Gives you an unhealthy boost of energy because it's pumping cheap mako into your veins. I'm shocked you didn't know that, Aeris. You lived in the slums for how long?" Zack tsked and waved his finger at the woman, whose eyes were still glazed with confusion.

"But tha' drug went outta style like five years 'go," Barret answered Zack's unasked question. "Killed lotta people, but when Shinra came an' gave doses of the shi' out, it jus' wiped out almost all the druggies."

Zack looked to Barret, his eyes wide. "They—they killed them? Holy fuck, never expected that."

The older man switched his safety on and proceeded to walk forward. "You livin' in da pas', gotta get inta the future. We got bigga' problems than that righ' now—it's gettin' cold and dark an' my stumac' ain't gettin' full wit' food right 'bout now. Les' jus' settle down and get ready ta sleep."

"Sure," Zack said cautiously, "but what about Red? Is everyone in agreement to leave Red to the watching tonight and leave me fully un-castrated? If not, I'd like to be warned about it now." He waited one, two, three seconds before the group nodded their heads. "Aw, I'm so happy we could all get along!" Zack walked forward and placed a large, wet kiss on Cloud's cheek, then moved forward to do the same to the girls. He stopped though at Red, who had begun to grow viciously, promising to rip off his family jewels should Zack attempt to lay anything but a hand on him.

"Aw, my reddie-beastie, no kissies? Fine." Zack reached his hand down to Red's ears scratching behind them. "You like that don't you, doggie?"

He was barely able to pull his honey-colored hand away from Red before it was torn to a thousand pieces.

"I am not a common household domesticated pet!"

* * *

Zack poured himself a bit of the boiling water, swirling it around in the bowl. Sticking his metal spoon into the noodles. He turned them quickly, watching the clumps flake into separate strings of food. "Good thing we bought a lot of these," Zack explained to Aeris, who sat next to him, taking cautious sips from a ceramic mug. The bow in her hair was loose, the ends of her hair uncut; Aeris didn't look as composed as she normally was. "You okay?"

Aeris blinked twice, Zack repeating his question. She looked so very tired, a few unpleasant bags below her green eyes. "Oh, I'm fine. A little tired, but that is to be expected, right?"

The black-haired man nodded. "Yeah, I guess it is. Hey," he reached forward, pulling the pink ribbon tightly around her braid, "it was coming loose."

"Oh, thank you, Zack; I hadn't noticed." Her voice was softer than usual. She placed the mug on the ground next to her unclothed feet, her hand going to her ankle. There was something there, Zack noticed, a small scar the size of his thumb. She ran her fingers over it, almost as though she didn't notice Zack sitting next to her. The fire before them pulsed on.

"What's that?" he asked, Aeris's hand going automatically to cover it. It looked like some type of burn, like someone had pushed a cigarette to her leg; like a branding.

"Uh—it's nothing, Zack. Just a little burn from that fight we were in a while ago with that thing in Midgar." She gave a flicker of pleading.

Zack placed the bowl of steaming soup down and grasped the woman's hands lightly, pulling them from the scar. It was a cigarette burn, something Zack hadn't seen on her ankle before. "Who did this?" He ran the pad of his thumb over the wound, watching Aeris shut her eyes, not from any sort of pain, but from what Zack could only name as embarrassment.

"It was one of the Turks," Aeris answered, pulling her foot down and jerking her dress down to cover it. "Tseng had said that I had to stop moving around, but I tried to kick him. The red-haired one, Reno, was holding the cigarette and when I moved my foot to kick him, my leg collided with the tip. He hadn't meant it; he had even apologized, something strange that I hadn't expected from him. I thought he would have done it on purpose, considering the circumstances…" her voice dropped down to a whisper, "about you and all…"

"I…" Zack saw Aeris's eyes well with a few unshed tears and he couldn't finish speaking. They didn't fall, because Aeris wouldn't let them, but the knowledge that they had been created made anger swell in Zack's stomach like the fires engulfing the wood before them. "I'm sorry, Aeris."

Zack wanted to hug the woman, but held himself back from it. She was sad and angry, her hand already gone back down to pick up her drink, her eyes staring unfocused at the fire.

"You didn't do it, Zack," she whispered, taking in another sip of the cooling tea.

* * *

Zack woke to screaming. His head shot up from his pillow, the blur in his eyes disappearing as he quickly scanned the tent. Both Barret and Cloud were groggily opening their own eyes, and, as the voice screamed louder, Zack knew that it wasn't the scream of either Tifa or Aeris.

"Whaz' goin' on?" Barret shook his head twice, looking around the tent, his eyes dazed. "Whoz' screamin'?"

Zack didn't answer, but rather jumped to his feet, already padding outside, nearly tearing the tent on his way out. What greeted his eyes next was something that dumbfounded Zack.

"_It's trying to eat meeeeeeee!!!_" the teenage girl screamed as she writhed on the floor, Red standing on her chest, looking impassively to Zack, who was barely able to keep his laughter in. "_Helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllp meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!_" she continued to scream, birds flying overhead as they were scared from the loud noises that came from her mouth. The woman had woken and were peering out into the half-darkness, a green ball of materia clutched in Aeris's hand.

It was impressive; the set of lungs on her, Zack thought as he crossed his two arms in front of him, but it was getting annoying. He allowed her to get one more "_I don't wanna dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!_" out before he nodded his head to Aeris who was standing. A sleep spell collided into the girl, knocking her half-unconscious. She let out a few more chosen words before her eyes slumped closed and she went limp under Red's paws.

"She tried throwing a shuriken at me." Red walked off of her chest, far too elegantly for any other beast, and sat down, lifting his paw to a tree where the four-point weapon was embedded into the wood. "That explains the smell of metal, if you will."

Aeris walked forward and bended down before the body, feeling for a pulse. "She's fine; a little on the pale side, but that may just be from her little encounter with Red. Honestly," she looked over to Red, exasperated, "did you truly have to horrify her? She can't possibly be older than sixteen."

Zack looked to Red, whose tail was flopping along, bathing the group in light. "Aeris, do you not see what is at her side?"

Zack walked a few steps forward, his eyes drawn to the small sack attached to the black-haired girl's wrist. He pulled the black bag loose, dozens of small, un-mastered materia falling into the dirt. "She's a Materia-Thief."

"Correct." Red nodded his head humbly. "I had a dream of this little girl last night in the caves. She was robbing us blind of our materia and medicines. Should I have allowed her to continue out her plans of robbing us?"

"No, you did fine, Red. It's just, now anything in a mile radius thinks we killed her," Cloud stated from behind Zack, who had to turn to see him. "I think we should tie her up and then wake her—"

But, as a wave of water washed out the fire and a long dragon peered from inside of the wave, its tongue hissing as it slipped over Zack's throat, he knew that either the little twit was immune to magic or Aeris didn't have that great of an aim.

"See ya, suckers! Nyah!" the girl yelled as she ran off, Cloud already screaming about the materia she had swiped from his wrist.

* * *

"That little harlot took my summons materia." Zack watched as Cloud paced before the fire, his mako blue eyes burning intensely.

"And all she took was your summons materia?" That was Red, who was looking forlorn and annoyed.

"Yes."

_So, looks like we're going out after little-miss-twit. I am not looking forward to this, at all._

* * *

**So, this ended up not having everything I wanted it to have, so I had to plan out yet another chapter to go into it. Yay(ish)! So, how did you like the appearance of Yuffie Kisaragi? The next chapter contains the finding of the 'little twit' as Zack put it…and some other fun stuff. **

**Please Review! **


	29. Summons

Author Notes: Oh, this chapter makes me want to have little Cloud/Zack babies. You know, bright blue eyes, black hair, cute ears (have you noticed how cute Cloud's ears are?) and a little bit of Zack and Cloud's personality. Maybe some of my ugly mug too, but I want them both. I don't know how, but I'll figure it out. One day…

**Dedication:** This chapter is dedicated to Neko-Tang, because it was recently her birthday! Sixteenth birthdays are interesting ones. Anyway, Happy Birthday Neko!

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Thirty Five: Summons

Zack watched Cloud wring his hands before him, a small, angry sneer crossing the blonde's face. He had seen hundred of scary things ranging from shrunken heads hung in rest stops in small towns to seeing monster-humans bubbling in large vats of mako, but Cloud in itself was perhaps the scariest.

"Cloud, you aren't going to start manically laughing and tapping your fingers together, right?" the ex-SOLDIER asked.

Cloud turned, looking straight into Zack's violet eyes. "No, Zack; you have a really strange sense of humor, you know. I'm just thinking of ways to find that girl. Red said he was going to try tracking her, right?" His hands went to his spiky blonde hair. It was speckled with dirt, Zack noticed, something that seemed to becoming more and more common as the days passed into weeks. It was disgusting to sometimes forgo showers because of the surroundings, but he had gone more than three weeks without any type of washing in Wutai; this little wait was next to nothing to him.

"Oh, okay, just making sure." Quickly tapping his foot on the ground, Zack rubbed his fingers against his pants. He was a bit jittery; an uncommon habit the black-haired man had thought he escaped from years before, after he quit smoking. After a moment Zack shook himself back into his thoughts. "Urg, yeah Cloud. Red said he was gunna go try and find the kid. The summons you had wrapped 'round your wrist wasn't common in any way and it left a distinct smell in the air. I wouldn't know, because I don't have the nose of a dog, but apparently Red does."

Cloud shook his head and Zack watched in surprise as the boy situated himself on the floor next to his feet. "He's going to try and eat you one of these days, Zack. You just keep teasing him and teasing him about what he is. Did you ever think that maybe he's uncomfortable about what he is?" He was right, the violet-eyed noticed after a moment of silence before he continued to talk, "You wouldn't ask me who my father is, right? I don't like talking about what happened to create me, maybe it's something similar with Red."

Scratching behind his ear at an unruly piece of hair, Zack gave a small grunt. "Eh, guess that's possible. I should quit bugging him about what he is, but it's so funny most of the time. He just looks like he's—"

"Going to enjoy eating your jugular, Zack. Think; I know there's a brain hidden behind all of that spiky hair and infuriating attitude you wear like some medal of honor." Cloud looked up to Zack, his mako blue eyes shining. "Now, are you going to help me come up with some sort of a way to get my summons materia back, or am I going to have to go bother one of the ladies? They found a little creek thanks to that twerp running off and I think they're washing their hair."

"Well," Zack hunched back, putting two hands cockily behind his head, "maybe we can go sneak up on them, see them without their clothes on, maybe? I know you've been dying to see Tifa without a shirt on…" He stopped speaking when he noticed the look of repulsion and confusion marring Cloud's face. "Wait, you haven't wanted to check out her chest?"

"Not particularly, Zack. They're comrades; I understand why you'd want to check out Aeris, because she's your girlfriend and all, but why would I want to look at Tif?"

The black-haired man's mouth dropped open. "Cl-Cloud, are you saying you don't like Tifa? Even after all of this time we've spent with them?" _No way Cloud doesn't like her. I mean, he was kind of in love with her in Nibelheim, hiding himself in embarrassment and all that junk. What, he's just forgotten all about his feelings for her?_ The ex-SOLDIER's mind raced, his mouth trying to form words. "You like her, don't you?"

Cloud shook his head, strands of blonde hair getting in front of his eyes. He lifted one hand to move them behind his ear. "She's Tifa," he mumbled, "I used to like her, kind of like the way you like Aeris, but that was a long time ago."

"But I thought you didn't remember the past five years?"

"Oh, I don't." Cloud placed his fingers in the dirt, drawing a small picture like it was a canvas, his fingers the brush. "It's just, I was thinking a lot about things when I was in Midgar, about Tifa and relationships .I don't think I can have something like what you and Aeris have with Tifa. She's lovely, she'll always be that way to me, but I don't know… I just can't see myself being with her, ever like that. I think she thinks that, too."

_That's why she fawns over you, ignoring every single pass from anyone else. Puh-lease. Holy, you really are that blind, aren't you? I just wanna fuckin' smack Chocobo-head upside that pretty little skull of his. _

Zack barely held his hands back from smacking the blonde. "You're blind," he stated, dumbfound. "You're completely and totally blind to any emotion that has even the slightest hint of the word 'sex'. Holy, doll-face, you're going to be a virgin for the rest of your life if you keep thinking like that. I just wanna shake you sometimes." And to prove his point, he made shaking movements with his hands.

This caused Cloud to snort; a small blush cascaded over his cheeks that he tried to pretend wasn't there. "Fair, why does it matter either way to you? Do you think that because Tifa isn't with me you'll suddenly become a horny bastard and get with her?" The teenager's words were strangely acidic. "She isn't like that, you know. I may not have spoken to her much when I was a kid, but look at how she treats everyone. She and Aeris, who you are with, by the way, are like the mothers of this group. I didn't think you were the type to go screwing around and cheating on people, Zack."

"What's with the such little faith, Cloud? I'm not that type of person." The words had stung Zack, who stood up and walked off toward where the campfire was. "I think… I think I'm going to go try to find Barret. Cool off; I think that little twit's got you a little too high strung." He was almost to the tree line when he heard Cloud stand and run to where he was. Turning, Zack could see Cloud's small frown.

"Sorry, that was harsh. You aren't like that at all, Zack. You're right; I'm a little off whack because of that girl. She got under my skin and I don't know why. I think we should go look for Red. He probably has some idea of where she went running off to." Cloud took in a deep breath, giving a shaky smile that could have passed for a grimace.

_No Cloud, you're completely right. I'm a whore. I fucked people, too many people, while dating Aeris. I lead women on, I lead Aeris to believe I was only hers until I sucked up enough courage to tell her about…everything. I fucked a man, a man, and though I think we were just using each other, it may not have been the same feeling with him. What is with me? That little twerp is less of a harlot than I am. _

"So, you've got no feelings for anyone?"

Cloud clucked his tongue, shrugging. "I… I think—" the blonde was interrupted as a long howl invaded the morning air.

"Ah, looks like Red found something. Best get movin'."

* * *

Red hadn't found anything to lead anyone to the materia thief, but a small, teensy little problem that was going to make the entire process of finding her more difficult.

"What do you mean that we ran out of forest?" Tifa asked. "I mean, is that even possible? I thought we had at least a few more miles of this before finding an ending."

The beast scratched at the ground with his paw. "There is no further forest beyond this area. Now, I do not believe that necessarily means that we will not find her, but it may take a bit more of luck and talent than previously thought. Now, Cloud..." Red looked up to Cloud, who was standing next to Zack, his arms crossed. Zack noticed tension running through the blonde's jaw.

"Yes?"

"I need you to inform me of exactly what this materia was. I know you have said it was a summons, but you must surely have some other information on it? Summons materia is not easy to come by; it is handmade from the goddess, as legend puts it, and mostly noble families were given these treasures. To even think that you would own one is rather fascinating. Now, what was it?"

Zack thought for a moment, attempting to think of what exactly Cloud had done with the thing. Nothing came to mind; all he could remember about it was the boy finding attached to that chocobo and putting it on his wrist.

"Wait." Cloud raised his hand before him, looking at Red oddly. The ex-SOLDIER knew that look; it was a blank stare, one that Cloud seemed to be perfecting as of late. "That girl, the one who took my summons, she had one too. It was that water beast. Does that mean that she came from a special family?"

Red snorted. "Cloud, she's a materia thief. All that summons means is that she was able to get her fingers into someone of high class, much higher than herself. There are no nobles who would allow their children to act as that child. Now, I do not believe that she has left yet—I believe she has her eye set out for the rest of us. She will think that because one summons materia was with our group, there will be more hidden on our persons."

"But how do we get her?"

"Zackary, I believe the way to get her is rather simple." To show the man, Red motioned to a blank spot on the ground, digging his nail into the dirt. Crudely drawn were three people, Zack, Cloud and Harlot, all shown by the small lettering above their dirt faces. "Now, you see, if she is in this forest, within at least a three mile radius, it will be possible for us to catch her. The materia that you had on your wrist, even if you hadn't used it, had bonded with yourr magic. Thus, when we go after it, all you will have to do is think deeply and focus on the materia."

"But I never used it," Cloud pointed out.

"Does not matter," Red said gruffly, "all you needed was that time to bond with it. It is yours now, and you can call it back to you. It would have been easier for you if you knew at least what it looked like, but we will have to simply deal with this small issue. Now, do you remember what it felt like in your hands?"

* * *

Zack stood a great distance away from Cloud, with the others. Red had said the magic out lash could possibly be dangerous for anyone within a certain distance and, because Red had yet to be proven wrong, no one wanted to play roulette with a loaded gun.

"Just call to the materia now," Red reminded from his place next to the black-haired man, having to call out loudly for the blonde to hear. "Does he hear me, Zack?"

"Mmmhmm. He isn't making any signal that he doesn't." Zack strained his eyes, seeing a few strands of wispy smoke-like substance curling from Cloud's mouth, the blonde taking in deep breaths. "Hey, is that normal?" His eyes flickered from Red to the small tendrils. "It looks like something's coming out of his mouth. It's all wispy an' shit. That normal?"

It wasn't Red who answered, but Aeris. "Yes, that is normal. Have you not heard of some of the legends, where the prince or knight use magic that comes out of their mouths, like fire for example, to slay the monster or dragon?" She spun a finger through her curling bangs, smiling softly. The conversation from before was almost completely erased—the burn that Reno hadn't meant to do, the anger of his affairs, the heartache of his indecisiveness…

Zack gave a small smile and leaned forward to whisper into the woman's ear. "Was his name Zack, that prince of yours?"

"No, it was the beast," Red answered. "Now, will one of you girls perhaps go find Barret. I do not sense him in the area, which meant that we have gotten away from camp further than I had thought."

"Oh! Of course." Aeris smiled to the red-furred beast, leaning down to scratch behind his ears before grabbing hold of Tifa's arm and disappearing behinds several trees.

"Before you ask, yes, that was done purposefully. They would not like to see what happens next, if all goes to plan. I do not wish to make either think we are savages, you understand. That harlot will come, and when she does Cloud will…"

Zack finished his sentence. "Breathe fire onto them?" He looked down; his two violet eyes meeting Red's one good eye.

"Essentially, yes," he answered bluntly.

* * *

Thirteen minutes later, the trees began to rustle aimlessly. Red put his nose into the air and sniffed, Zack resisting the urge to call him doggie. There was a small chill in the air, and the feeling of something deep in the forest running around, warking, as they shot of handfuls of ice magic.

"What in the Planet is she doing?" Red whispered, perplexed. "It seems as if she is coming toward us, but that is not the scent of our human girl, but of a—"

"_Chocobo_!" Cloud yelled, Zack and red snapping their heads down to where the blonde was, a chocobo riding closer and closer to him, and the little thief on its back.

"You can't catch me, old guys! Ha!" she yelled this, grabbing hold of the reins and pulling on them sharply.

The next few seconds were a blur; the girl was bucked off of the chocobo, which disappeared into nothingness, and Cloud clapped his hands together, activating the materia in the girl's satchel. It wasn't just the summons materia set off, Zack noticed with a hint of fear—the girl was fighting against hordes of spells being fired at her from all directions. She screamed one long, droning scream as she fell back into the mossy ground and lay still. As the last bit of smoke cleared from her body, both Red and Zack ran forward.

Zack had never seen such a thing happen before, and as he got down onto his knees, checking the girl's pulse that was steady, he noticed the bag still closed, the black bag lying limply on her unconscious and unmoving wrist. He turned his head to Red, who was sniffing cautiously at the girl, who gave a grunt when his wet nose rubbed against her cheek.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Zack asked, taking in a deep breath, looking over to where Cloud still stood, his eyes large, staring out at the trees. He didn't look alright, sick to his stomach from the color tinting against his cheeks, and Zack looked back down at the small teenage girl. She was better off than Cloud, he noticed after a moment, and gave a quick look to Red as for explanation.

"I…I believe so, yes," Red answered a moment later, moving his nose away from the girl, a small streak of wetness across her skin. "I think he's exhausted himself, if you must know. I can get the girl to camp but you should go pick him up."

Zack didn't need to be told twice. Standing and walking slowly to Cloud, he heard Red grunt as he somehow managed to get the thin girl and all of her equipment strapped to her back onto his own back. Her feet dragged, the ends of her brightly colored shoes scuffing against the floor of the forest, and Zack turned back around to Cloud, giving a small smile that he couldn't have seen.

"Hey, Cloudy." Zack hesitantly reached one hand up to the blonde's hair, lightly scratching at the small place that made the boy mewl such a long time ago, back in Midgar. His blue eyes moved little by little to Zack's face, and when Cloud noticed Zack standing next to him, running his fingers through his hair in hopes to calm the boy, he fell to his knees, the morning's small breakfast coming up a few feeble inches between Zack's boots.

Quickly moving away from the vomit, Zack got to his knees next to Cloud, who was still coughing. He removed his hands from the boy's hair and now ran one over Cloud's back, in what he hoped would be soothing and the other to pull the loose strands in front of his face away from his mouth. "Okay, get it all out," Zack leaned forward, putting his nose into the blonde, fluffy hair, "yeah, it's alright,"

Cloud sagged into Zack's arms a moment later, his face horridly pale, skin chilled not by the morning breeze. Slowly, as to not make the teenager sick yet again, Zack picked the boy up in his arms, Cloud's head nestled in the crook of his arm like a mother holding a small infant.

Leaning down, Zack placed a peck on Cloud's cold nose.

_That wasn't what was supposed to happen and it scared the fuck out of Cloud. What in all of Gaia was I thinking, allowing him to do that? It could have killed him; fuck. _

Fuck was perhaps the only truly solid word in Zack's skull at that moment, looking down into Cloud's face, which was strained far too much for his own liking.

* * *

**So, how many of you are completely and totally confused? I raised my hand too, and it's my story! Gah! When will these plots quit digging their little paws into me? Anywho, I need to ask you guys a big favor—I know that at least two of the readers can not **_**stand**_** the Zack/Reno pairing in this story, so, what should I do for Valentine's Day Interlude? If anybody wants to share his or her idea on that, please don't be afraid to. I don't want to make anybody upset with the interludes, because they're supposed to be fun and fluffy for the most part and when someone doesn't like them I get kind of sad. **

**Please Review!**


	30. Persecution

Author Notes: One of the reviewers brought up how Tseng is a little out of character, and I was wondering if anyone else felt that way about him. I thought I was doing a good job with him, but I guess I need to work on him. I guess he's too brutal? I thought he was rather mild compared to how he's actually characterized in the game—I still kind of hate him for what he did to Aeris in the game, but it could be worse, neh? I think that the little slap he gave was canon, wasn't it? I think I'm going to have to play through again if I got that wrong. Anybody tell me if that was right, please?

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Thirty Six: Persecution

"You aren't going to eat me? Are you sure? Like, really, really sure?" The girl was hyperventilating, her gray eyes large and her mouth open. There were tear-streaks down her cheeks and she tried to struggle, inanely, against the handcuffs binding her wrists.

Aeris sat next to where the girl lay, pattering her fingers on the blankets. "Of course no one will eat you. Now, if you will, can you tell me your name, hmm?" Her voice was misleadingly cheerful. Zack noticed a small hint of hesitation and the diminutive frown-line that marred the skin around her green eyes, but did not mention this to the twit.

Instead, he rubbed the thin, filmy substance between his fingers, placing them gingerly to Cloud's temples. He whistled lightly as he massaged the pressure points, giving a small smile to the half-unconscious boy, who only grunted in response. "Ah, you shouldn't worry 'bout her eating you, kid. You should be more worried about Red. I think he's more likely to eat you than Aeris."

The girl let out a pitiful whimper. "Oh, don't eat me! I'm not mean, I swear! I'm useful and pretty an—and I'm like royalty!" She banged her hands around, trying to release them of their chains. "Oh, I won't try stealing from you again!" she added as an afterthought, Zack looking into her eyes, pleading with him.

"Guh," Cloud moaned, digging his nails into Zack's arm, attempting to pull himself up. "'Elp me up." Zack quickly put his arm underneath Cloud's head, ignoring the potion still smothered on his fingers, helping the blonde to see the girl. After taking in a few deep, yet shaky breaths, Cloud began to speak, "You nearly killed me, twit. Why should we not allow Red to eat you for dinner?"

"Because I do not eat humans, nor shall I ever wish to. Here is the water you asked me for, Aeris." The beast bent down, the bucket making the barest of movements.

Aeris sent Red a smile, taking off the bucket, Zack watching as she staggered a small bit with the weight, water sloshing over the sides. "Th-thank you, Red," she panted mildly, dropping the water bucket next to the still-horrified girl.

Now that he could get a good look at her, rather than the fleeting glimpse of her back end as she ran off into the gilding trees, Zack noticed how young she was. Her gray eyes were wide and open, the lashes thick, curling up onto her bottom cheek, reminding the ex-SOLDIER what a small infant looked like, coiled at their mother's bosom. She forced her bottom lip quiver unconscientiously and she kept spotting off childish nonsense of someone wanting to eat her. Having fairly pale skin, Zack still noticed the slanted Wutaian eyes and the dark black locks.

"What's you're name, kid?" Zack let the question come back to the conversation. "I keep thinking of you is 'Materia', but I don't think your mother was that type a lady, 'specially if she was Wutaian."

The girl bobbed her head sharply, stopping her actions for an instant. The tears seemed to dry faster than her voice could produce words. "Ah, thanks buddy! See, somebody 'round this dump knows that I'm from Wutai! Now, how 'bout you let me go?" She gave a crooked smile, showing her shackles again.

"Just give your name, before I do something unpleasant to make you talk," Cloud grumbled from the side, causing Zack to turn his head and nod, in agreement with the blonde.

She hmphed. "My name's Yuffie, Yuffie Kisaragi, and I'm the coolest ninja you'll ever see! I'm just that awesome! That rare! And now will you let me go?" Yuffie's enthusiasm seemed to plummet down to a pessimistic level. Zack watched her bat her eyelids a few times, pouting out her bottom lip again. "Aw, come _onnnnnnnnnn_."

Zack turned a deaf ear to the teenager's whining. "Whatever, squirt." He let his eyes trail over her face impassively one more time before going back that that of his comrades. When he met Aeris's eyes, her hands dunking into the water and soaking a cloth to put on the girl's squirming forehead, she gave a brief nod before wiping her hands on the bottom of her pink dress.

"Zack," she countered, "do you really think it's wise…?" Trailing off into nothing, Aeris closed her eyes, taking in a shuddering breath.

But before he could turn back to tell the gray-eyed girl that he, as the leader, had no qualms with allowing her to either hightail it as far away from the camp as possible or tag along for the ride, Cloud interrupted him.

"Don't think about it, Fair! She's a liability, more than anybody else here."

"You don't think I realized this?" Zack snapped, his eyes looking down, ghosting over the calluses on his fingertips. "Shit, Cloud, ya don't think I think about these things before I start to talk about them for other people to think about?" Pulling on a small hangnail, the tiny wound above his nail burning like he had put vinegar into the cut, Zack thought of how he managed to once again forget about eloquence and confuse the others.

Red sat down, his hind leg scratching at a small patch of fur near his thigh. "You need to be properly taught how to speak again, Zackary; both Barret and yourself have such issues using the continental language." There was a moment of silence before Yuffie cackled and she began to spout off in what Zack could only consider gibberish.

"She talking in fucking tongue's already," Cloud exclaimed, clapping his hands together in front of him. "Next she's going to want a human sacrifice and then a vial of blood every morning."

Yuffie stopped her speaking, cut off short by Cloud's words. Zack turned to see the girl's face turn a fleshy ginger. She jerked her head up, spurting off obscenities faster than Zack could catch them. "How dare you!?" Lunging forward, the bucket of water dumping across the plastic bottom of the tent, Yuffie lifted her handcuffs up and with an immense war cry launched herself at Cloud. "You stupid _blondie_!"

Zack watched, clucking his tongue against the back of his teeth, the faint taste of staleness washing over his taste buds. She was amusing and easily annoyed and annoying. It reminded Zack of himself, with girlish hair and a tiny chest. This Yuffie kid, granted she was still a little twit, was warming up to the black-haired man, especially when her war cry became a sharp yell of aggravation when Aeris pushed her lightly back down, her cries becoming that of complaints about the cold water.

"I guess you shouldn't have dumped it out." Cloud crossed his arms, his nose rising into the air, eyes glittering with deep humor.

"Cloudy-boy, lay back down; you've got clumps of potion hanging in your hair because you moved around. Silly kids, the both of you," Zack said, motioning to the two. He couldn't deny the happiness, even if it was a rather odd happiness, from bubbling and frothing to the surface in his heart.

Cloud wearily eyed the black-haired man before lying back down, Zack returning to rubbing circles at the blonde's hairline. "Whatever." He closed his glowing eyes, twisting into a more comfortable position. "Just wait 'til Barret or Tifa find out about your little hope for a mini-me, Zackary. Let's see how pleased they'll be."

"Mini-me?" Yuffie moved her head a bit, her gray eyes meeting Zack's violet ones. "You want to keep me around? Pleasssssse? I'll be good, I swear!"

"Sweet Holy," Aeris whispered, a small laugh escaping from her lush pink lips, "she could be your daughter, Zack."

Zack revolted against the idea, sticking out his tongue childishly. "No way, Aeris. That mean's she'd be yours too!"

* * *

The morning winds were tranquil and somewhat cheerful, much unlike the thoughts corrupting and circulating through Zack Fair's unstable and disturbed mind. There was the heavy feeling lingering on his tongue that resembled distraught, of something that he didn't quite understand. Why was he so… upset? Angry? Was he either of these emotions or something more, something far more alarming than those bare and rather inane emotions?

Why was he fighting so hard to get to Sephiroth? It wasn't his mother and town that had been slaughtered; that was Cloud's burden, even if he tried to take some of the lingering pain from him, it couldn't equal the amount of energy spent trying to capture and slaughter the lunatic. Sephiroth had always been a fascinating man, a man whose words were more complex than the most difficult jigsaw puzzle, a man whose mind was lost to the depths of the universe, never to be taken back. But that wasn't the reason why he wanted to kill the silver-haired general.

Was it because the General had explicitly betrayed him? Zack could still not remember anything after seeing Tifa; after he viewed the blood from her wounds time seemed to stop, the world twisting out of shape into the deep depressing gloom of nothingness. Had something, even as small as a straightforward word exchanged between the two, made this burning, violent desire develop in his heart? The two had been battle buddies of a sort, trying their hardest to protect Angeal…

How funny that now, as Zack watched the sun rise in streams of lush, beautiful reds and blues, all he could think of was a madman. Shouldn't he have been thinking of things more pleasant, more _suiting_ for the dawn, as the sun came up to banish the darkness of night?

The urge to shed Sephiroth's blood was partially fed by Cloud's own desire of revenge and Zack's longing to make the world a better, more suitable place to stand in. He despised knowing that a man who had murdered such sweet people, Kysen had been as much of a mother to him during that wonderful week before Sephiroth had gone insane as his own mother, and to let such a deed go unpunished was a crime. It had torn him apart in Aeris's room to tell Cloud of his mother's death, and again the festering wounds were opened by having to tell of Sephiroth's part in the situation.

Maybe he wasn't fighting for himself, or for the people lost or the children he would have later on in his life.

Maybe he was fighting because Cloud wanted, no, _needed_, him to do it with him. The blonde was strong, one of the strongest people Zack had ever encountered in his short life, and to see someone so strong cry was like a sin in itself.

Zack fought because Cloud needed to, and for some reason he was perfectly satisfied with accepting that fact. His friends were important enough to lay his life down for and there were many perks dealing with a group of high and almighty terrorist organizations.

One being that he would one day slit Professor Hojo's throat, but that was just a bonus to the entire situation.

* * *

"So you're going to let this… Yuffie, come with us?" Tifa's arched black eyebrows rose, her red-wine eyes staring off into Zack's, bewilderment etched into her features. "Really, Zack, do you find this wise? I mean, she did rob us and probably would have gotten more if not for Red. How's he on the idea of this little girl coming with us?"

Zack took a swig of water from his cup, saddling his legs over the broken tree stump. "Well, toots, it's like this," he put down the cup in the dark earth, grinding it in so it wouldn't fall should he step on something near it, "she's kind of a 'liability' and it's better that we keep our eyes on the crazy twit. Anyway, Cloud thinks she's kinda like me, which means that it's best to keep her around because she'll come up with good ideas like I do. Red was pretty much 'blah' with the entire thing. So, can't use him against me."

Tifa massaged her hands together, her dark gloves rubbing against each other to create a sound akin to squelching. Zack watched as the black-haired martial artist cringed at the sound, taking off the gloves and placing them next to Zack's cup. "Zack, only you would want a girl who tries to rob us in our group. She'll probably rob us blind in the middle of the night and creep on back home, but," Tifa gazed down, giving a quick huff of defeat, "because I think you can be right at times I'm not going to fight about this with you. I'll trust you, and if she ends up doing exactly as I've predicted I think I'll end up having your head. Deal?"

"I like my head, so you can expect that everything'll be just dandy." Zack leaned forward, grabbing his cup and taking a long swig of the water. "So, you've got yourself a deal, doll-face. Now, why don't we talk about something different, y'know, something that doesn't involve me losing body parts like most of our conversations wander to?" Zack put his thumb back in his mouth, the pain from the night before already gone. Pesky little things like them healed up fast enough, especially since he was injected with so much damn mako, but they still weren't fun to have.

Tifa took the small ponytail from the bottom of her hair, combing her fingers through the long brown tresses to get out most of the kinks. "Well, how are you and Aeris?"

"Strange for you to ask 'bout that, but we're fine, thanks. Don't know if that's a good thing for you or not..." to prove his point the ex-SOLDIER leaned forward, wriggling his brows suggestively.

"Don't even think like that, Zackary Fair. If I remind you correctly, you've got a little problem with thinking with your penis rather than your brain, wherever it may float in that skull of yours," Tifa pushed him back, rapping rather hard against his thick spikes of black. "Maybe not," she added under her breath, Zack had to read her lips to understand what she spoke.

He pushed one hand into his pocket, twirling the cup around and around with the index finger of his other. "You've gotta hate me quite a bit, and I'm still trying to figure out why. Is it because my hair is prettier than yours? Don't get jealous about that; my Ma drank honey and egg whites when pregnant with me, an old Gongagan wive's remedy to make babies prettier. Not my fault your mother didn't do the same." Barely resisting the urge to laugh at the look of irritation on the woman's face, Zack smiled coyly, backing up a small bit.

"I'm perfectly pretty, and you know that isn't what I'm talking about. Aeris told me about the couple in Kanon and their striking resemblance to…"

"What you goin' on about? What coup—oh, them. Erg, the name's were Jack and Mark?"

Tifa said nothing.

"Oh, no, Jak and Max. That was it. What about them again? Resemblance?" Their faces popped into Zack's mind, more so their rather odd relationship, especially for such a quiet town. "Don't remember much to think of a resemblance."

Tifa sighed and tied her hair back again, standing from next to Zack. "Never mind," she voiced, "it's pointless to talk about this, especially now. I think I'll go talk to Barret about our little addition to the group. Maybe we'll talk some other time about this."

* * *

Their conversation never continued, because when the two got back to their haven, Yuffie's loud, noxious voice had begun to scream obscenities.

"No, you big fat ugly-face! I'm not leaving! Nyah!"

"Shu' up you fuckin' lil' brat! Shut yur trap or I'll do it for ya!"

"Never, you loud old guy! Did your mom drop you on your head or sumthin'?!"

"Barret, don't! Let her go!"

"No, Aeris, I'm gunna squeeze her 'til she shuts her trap!"

"_Ahhhhh! I told you it'd try to eat meeeeeeeeeee!_"

"Red, why are you trying to eat her?"

"I figured if I scared her she might quiet herself. It isn't as though I took a chunk out of her arm, Cloud."

"Well, go ahead and continue. Maybe you should aim to bite off her tongue or maybe her jugular."

_This is what I'm going to have to deal with for the rest of this trip. Amazing how easy it is for everyone to decide to kill one another while I'm gone for less than twenty minutes, _Zack thought as he watched Yuffie running away from both Barret, Aeris trailing after them trying to stop them from killing one another. Both Cloud and Red sat near the girl's tent, Cloud pouring water from a plastic jug into a small bowl for Red to drink.

"If you bite her again maybe I'll slip something better into that bottle for the both of you when we get to whatever town we encounter next." Zack dropped down to the ground next to the two, pulling the jug away from Cloud's lips. "Oh, wait," Zack took a quick sniff and then an experimental taste, "look's like someone already did that. You've been keeping things from me, princess. Alcohol isn't the thing you keep from dear buddies."

"Not our fault you hadn't thought of it," Cloud explained as he snatched back the bottle. "And what did I tell you about that nickname?"

"Aw, Buddy, what are you doing drinking that?" The ex-SOLDIER suddenly snatched the bowl of vodka right from in front of Red's face, dumping it out into the earth. "Bad stuff, especially if you you've got a tail."

"You are always speaking of unfamiliar nicknames? I am not named 'Buddy', nor is Cloud 'Princess'."

As Yuffie's screeching continued, gunshots and muffled scream loud in the camp, Aeris shooting off sleep spell after sleep spell, Zack smiled at the two others with him. "Trust me," Zack leaned close to Cloud, whispering heavily into the blonde's ear, "my nicknames are pretty mellow compared to what that little twit'll come up with. Mark my words, Princess." He leaned back and away from Cloud's fuming face to assess the damage he would, undoubtedly, have to fix some way or another.

* * *

**So, this didn't contain even half of what I wanted it to, but that's all right. It makes it easier for the next chapter. Yay for that, at least. Thank my sister for getting this chapter up, albeit late. **

**Please Review! **


	31. Interlude Six: A Poet's Poem

Author Notes: There is a story floating around on this site that is being written as sort of a compilation with this story. The wonderful **RealityinaBottle (Neko-Tang) **is the author and I really do beg you to go check out her story. From what I've read so far, it's really good. I think you'll all like her story, because it will be playing around with little moments in this story with her own ideas. They're mostly really short one-shots and stuff, and I'm really looking forward to what she's going to be doing with it. It's amazing to know that someone likes this story enough to write fan-fiction on it!

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Interlude Six: A Poet's Poem

Vincent stretched his body out subconsciously, letting his suit rub against the pollinating flowers surrounding him. It left trickles of yellow staining the blue material, but he did not notice nor care. The wind blew against his cheek and the ruby-eyed man place his arms gingerly below his head. The grass tickled his unclothed toes; boots were nearby with the whites of his socks sticking out like the white flag of surrender.

The day was warm, surprising for the natural bitterness of February. The wind came in brief gusts, making his hair fly, but the sun shined on, warming his chilled body. Vincent opened his eyes to see the pale blue sky and two birds fluttered by into the nearby tree, where they perched on a nimble branch. They were blue, beautiful creatures, and it took a moment to see that between them was one solitary egg of the most delicate white. It would hatch very soon from the food carried in the mother's waiting mouth. The traces of the winter were already gone, the spring fluttering like the newly bloomed flowers surrounding him.

"Sleepy head, you fell asleep in the flowers again," came a soft laugh.

Vincent darted his head around to see Lucrecia standing but a few feet away, her lab-coat forgotten in the mansion. She wore a pair of sandals, a thin, lacy blouse and a light purple skirt that shimmered with color. In her delicate hands was a basket. A large smile spread across her face when Vincent jumped to his feet, trying to hide them below his pants leg.

"I'm sorry Miss Crescent," Vincent answered immediately, looking down as he snapped his hands straight. "The breeze was cool and I lost track of time. My apolo—" he was cut off by her sweet, soft laugh.

"Don't be silly, Mister Valentine. I was the one who snuck up on _you_. I know that people need to rest sometimes and we are in one of the safest places in town." Lucrecia took a few steps forward, gently placing the basket between the two. "If you don't mind, I've packed a picnic large enough for two, so it would be a pleasure if you would join me…" she trailed off, her feet staring at Vincent's legs.

"It there something wrong?" the man asked, still trying to hide his feet in the soft folds of material.

Lucrecia laughed; Vincent thought he had heard the sound of a chorus of angels singing. "I think I'm a little too dressed for the occasion." Quickly she slid her feet out of the sandals. She gave a deep sigh of what Vincent assumed was contentment. "There; that feels much better. Now you don't have to be hiding your toes in your pants!"

Vincent nodded his head, a tiny, fleeting smile crossing his lips for but a moment. "Of course, Miss Crescent. It would certainly be a pleasure."

The woman bobbed her head before plopping ungraciously down. "Good! I was afraid I was going to have to eat all by my lonesome. It's Valentine's Day and I thought that it would just make the day better if you, Mister Valentine, ate with me."

Vincent slid down to the soft earth, watching, as the brunette pulled out assorted breads and jams, her pale fingers sticky as she opened the containers, the thick spread covering her digits. She giggled, examined her hand.

"It certainly is rather colorful, isn't it?" She wiggled her fingers before pulling out a napkin and fruitlessly wiping at the spot. "Oh, it doesn't want to come off," she explained as she pulled the shredded paper away.

"Well," Vincent started, picking up another napkin, "do you have a bottle of water perhaps in there, somewhere?"

Lucrecia nodded, reaching with her other hand into the basket, bringing out a large bottle of the clear substance. "Here."

Taking the container into his hands, Vincent opened the top and spread the napkin with water. It felt cold in his fingers. He capped the bottle and leaned forward, taking Lucrecia's soft hand. "Water makes it less sticky." He rubbed at the yellows and reds on his fingers, watching the food disappear into the napkin. He sat there for a moment, just running his forefinger over the delicate hand clasped between his own. The jam was gone and Vincent had to snap himself out of the trance of her skin and pulse.

Retracting her hand, Lucrecia let out a small laugh. "Oh, thank you." She smiled. "I'm so silly sometimes. I wouldn't have thought of that. Silly me."

Vincent nodded his head, unaware, as he slipped the napkin into his pocket. "Would you like me to do this for you?"

Lucrecia nodded her head, a small strand of brown slipping from her ponytail. Rather than reaching forward to move it, Vincent busied himself with opening the jars, sticking a small knife into each. "So, what is this, may I ask?"

Lucrecia was playing with a piece of bread, tearing off a small sliver and slipping it into her mouth. She chewed for a moment before swallowing. "A tradition from where I come from. On Valentine's Day we eat the sweetest of jams with bread with our loved ones. No one here really understands it, though I know we are not too far away from my city. Here," she said as she handed over a slice of rye bread. "It's your favorite, right?"

"Yes…" Vincent nodded, taking the piece of bread into his hand with the delicacy of someone touching an infant. "I hadn't though you would know."

"Of course I would. You have been here since the beginning and at every lunch I see you with a rye sandwich. I even remember how you said that you didn't like anything else but that." Lucrecia shrugged one shoulder before reaching forward to pull one of the knives from the jars. "Now, which would you like, peach or strawberry? Maybe mulberry or mango? Pear or apple?"

Vincent looked down at the jars, varying in size and color. "Well," Vincent started, handing over the bread in his hand, "which one do you think I would like?"

Lucrecia tapped one of her cleaned fingers on her lip. "Hmm, very difficult, Mister Valentine," she murmured. After a moment her green eyes sparkled. "I have it! You would want cherry, wouldn't you?" She dug the knife into the jam before pulling it out, spreading the red mixture over the bread. She handed it off to Vincent, who took an experimental bite. "Was I right?"

Vincent chewed, allowing the rich taste to coat his tongue. It tasted like a little piece of heaven. "Miss Crescent, I think you did very well with your choice. I don't think I could have picked any better."

* * *

The two lay next to one another in the field, Vincent playing with a daisy that the woman beside him had slid behind his ear. She had explained, with a hint of a giggle in her voice, that it made a pretty contrast from his dark hair and scarlet eyes.

Her head was buried in a book, her pale legs in the air behind her, stomach flat on the ground. Vincent noticed how pretty she looked then with a flutter in his stomach. Her eyes would trace the words and her lips would be slightly parted as she said the words without sound. More strands of silken brown fell into her eyes and she pushed them hastily behind her ear, green eyes never leaving the page.

She had told him to call her Lucrecia, for it was her name, and Vincent had told her she could call him by his own name. It had been an awkward moment, her fingers once again sticky with jam. She sucked on them for a moment, cleaning them of the cherries. There had been a tense second before she had laughed, saying his name out loud, as if testing it.

"What are you reading?" Vincent asked as the brunette shut the book before her, eyes aflame.

"Poems," Lucrecia answered. Vincent sat there, looking at the woman, perplexed. With his own tiny information on poems he know that most were nice and soft, not harsh or guttural. Why did it look like the woman wanted to do nothing more than to throw the book in the lake?

The answer floated out of her mouth before the ebony-haired man could even voice it. "There's this poem that I've been reading for a long time and I was thinking of sending it home to my parents. I have a younger sister, you see, and though she's young she loves poetry. But," Lucrecia huffed, "I don't think I can do that. It isn't finished."

"Why don't you finish it on your own?" Vincent asked, looking into the woman's pale face. Her eyes were glowing and there was a small pout on her lips. "I have never written poetry before, but I think that you would be able to do it—"

The brunette cut him off. "No. I—I think I will just send it to them. Maybe when my sister is older she'll finish it. Who knows?" She placed her legs down, tossing the book to the side. Another smile came, this one much softer.

And for a moment, as she stared into his ruby eyes, Vincent felt content with the world. He leaned forward, not thinking of the consequences, and placed a kiss to her pink lips.

And there, as the two birds chirped as their egg cracked open, the flowers swishing to the side in the calm breeze, the sun shining above their heads, Lucrecia reached her hand hesitantly forward. Her hands ran against his cheek and into his hair, the daisy falling limply to the ground. Their feet, free, twined together, and for the first time Vincent wished that the moment would never end.

­­

* * *

**I wrote Het! And I think I did a good job! Whoo hoo for me! So, how did you guys like it? Was it too het-ish for you? Just trust me on this one; Vincent's going to be a very fun character once he stops angsting over Lucrecia. I'm looking forward to him, actually. One of the most enjoyable characters to write will be dearest Vincent. As for a warning, there will be a smattering of het through this story. It makes it more plausible, but there will be some really yaoi characters. I'm going to try to keep it to an even numbering or so.**

**Please Review! **


	32. Rebirth One: By Blood

**Dedication:** **To JeanneAndHerAlters, as well as her Chibi Reno, who have reviewed countless times and have finally pushed my up to 400 reviews! WOOT!**

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I won, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end. Oh, if you jack my plot I will know and you will lose your soul.

* * *

Rebirth One: By Blood

Rufus Shinra flipped his hair. The gesture was almost as natural as the air flitting above his head and the birds picking at the flowers piled up, like funeral pyres, before his Old Man's tomb. The bastard had wanted to go out in the most expensive funeral, nearly costing as much as it would have taken for Sector Seven to be rebuilt twice. His Old Man had been a sneaky bastard and even in death he was causing more trouble than he was worth. The funeral bill wouldn't be that much of a big deal, except for the minor fact that the man's body did not rot inside the thick walls of marble.

"Sephiroth can be a very amusing man when he wants to be," Rufus mused, sliding his manicured nails into the folds of his white trench coat. He could just imagine the uproar his father would be in if he saw what his son was, with his strawberry-blonde hair waving in the wind, wearing white to his own father's funeral. His back hunched a bit as he kicked away a dozen colorful flowers away from his feet. "I only wish he had kidnapped the Old Man, rather than kill him and then steal his body. It would have been easier, except for the fact that I wouldn't have been able to take over."

Tseng stood nearby, silently staring on. It didn't bother Rufus. In fact, Rufus plucked a cigarette from his pack hidden in his left pocket, Tseng never bothered him. The Wutaian man was the best Turk he had and without him there would have been more of an issue.

"Sir, I have news on Fair and his rag-tag team."

Rufus lit the fag, taking a deep corrosive breath. "Please," he smirked, blowing the smoke out of his mouth, the tendrils wisping across the tomb, "do tell. He was an interesting man, I would think. A bit weak, if I remember from that fight, but interesting. I know very, _very _little about him. Why don't you tell me everything that I don't already know?"

Tseng nodded. "Yes sir, but perhaps we should wait a short while, until we are back in the city."

"Turk," Rufus stated coolly, "I have to spend the next—" the Shinra heir looked down to his watch, noting the numbers dragging by, "fifteen minutes or so 'grieving' about the Old Man. The paparazzi can't get any further than the gates and the only person who will hear anything will be the two of us. Now, why don't you begin explaining this anomaly to me."

"Well, sir, what don't you know?"

Rufus licked his lips, a rouge smirk slipping across. "Well, can you tell me about file 201745?"

* * *

Reno slumped his back against the moisture-slick counter, guzzling down his, Reno turned to count the glasses littered before him. _Six, seven, seven,_ his mind thought as he countered them. They were closer than his best friend, tasted better than kisses and made his stomach bubble better than orgasms. Or, so he told himself repeatedly.

"Hiya toots." The woman slunk up to the bar, he cleavage popping from he tight black shirt. There was little material there, Reno noticed, his mouth watering at her supple and firm breasts, those lush scarlet painted lips and her eyes, black hair falling like strands of silk around her violet eyes.

Reno blinked twice, drawing the conclusion that he was wasted and alone, and a nice hooker didn't seem so bad. Especially, he decided when she closed her eyes and leaned forward, smelling of sandalwood and shampoo. Her hair lay in curls but Reno knew he could make that go away. Being drunk played games with his mind but he didn't bother to worry.

Clicking her tongue, she gave a sly smile and sat next to him, her fingers playing below the counter. "You seem pretty alone," she commented, "and I was wondering if maybe we could, _y'know_, have a lil' fun, I suppose." Her eyes were actually blue, Reno noticed with a twinge of anger.

Coyly, she picked up one of Reno's empty glasses licking the rim with smooth touches. The woman pulled the glass away, a few drops of thick bourbon adorning her lips like fresh lipgloss. "How 'bout we go somewhere close? I've got a few places you might like. How do you feel about," hitching her voice and letting her lips come within a few inches of the stubble growing on the redhead's cheek, "about that, babe? I can make your night wild."

The Turk plucked his wallet out, throwing a few rumpled and straggling bills onto the counter, letting them stick to his empty glasses. "Don't need ta ask twice." He winked one green eye.

_I just need ta get a bit drunk and get laid. I'll be fine in the morning, just have some fun. Have some fun. Fun. _

Reno didn't know where they were but he could feel the sheets below his body and the woman already exploring his body. He didn't mind, actually letting out one or two groans of pleasure, but he kept his eyes closed. The woman's body was to curvy, too vulptuous, too... feminine.

_Who the fuck am I kiddin'? _Reno thought tersely, his fingers already fumbling uselessly with the buttons on his pants. Why did it have to have two? And why were there so many of this shirt? It wasn't as though the damn thing was _clean_.

"Don't worry about that," the whore whispered, moving her scarlet lips over his own. "I'll take care of that; you just sit back and have _fun_."

* * *

He didn't look at her face. That was too personal, too in the comfort zone. Pro's faces never looked quite right; they had too much makeup and a plastic smile and moan. Different to the ones he experienced too long ago, the feelings only a faint touch to his skin.

Reno had taken her from behind and she hadn't said a word. Most don't complain—if they do what is wanted of them they knew they would get more. Often Reno just slept with the random girl he bought a drink for in a bar, but that wasn't what he wanted. There was just the desire to make it as cold and impersonal as possible. It wasn't her body that he lusted after, nor was it her slutty moans as he came into her, but it was the scent of sandalwood and soap and her hair.

Seventy-five gil later he felt content to lay in his sweat and musk, at least until the money ran out. These whore hotels were by the hour.

And there was only one thing he wanted and it wasn't another drink or his seventy-five gil back.

Reno wanted things the way they were five years before.

* * *

**Not as long as I wanted it to be, but I figured that was the note for me to stop. Next time there will be actual story! But, I'll let you think about the very important things in this chapter. And there were a few, by the way. **

**Please Review!**


	33. Recollection

Author Notes I suggest you go check out _**'Tenacity: The Possibilities'**_ by the amazing RealityInABottle. It'll make me really happy if you read and reviewed her story. Also, I've taken on a plethora of stories I'm betaing. None of that should come between me and this bitch of a story. She loves me, but sometimes I wonder.

**DEDICATION: To JeanneAndHerAlters, because she's an awesome person and she wanted a dedication rather than a Interlude. **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Thirty Seven: Recollection

Zack never expected that it would be easy to take on the ninja-girl into the party, but she was just too big of a damn _liability_. Cloud had nailed the problem on the head; it was not safe to let the girl go wandering off aimlessly. Yuffie would probably steal from every person in the entire forest before someone put a stop to her, which would have brought upon her subsequent, and probably rather painful and messy death.

And so the girl trailed behind him, shooting off random questions, some of which were completely and totally... well, wrong.

"So, you're about how old?"

"Twenty-three."

"And are you married?"

"No."

"Will you marry me?"

"Just keep thinking that to yourself, kid. Whatever floats that boat of yours."

"And will you make pretty babies with me?"

"Minerva, I hope you don't talk like this the entire time."

"But ya will, won'tcha? Come on—you know you want to."

"Nudge me again kid and I can't promise you anything—"

"Just say you'll make pretty black-haired purple-eyed babies with me and I'll leave ya alone. Promise."

"Fine, Yuffie. I'll make babies with you as long as you _leave me alone_."

"You're gay, aren't you? Knew it was too good to be true."

Zack took most of his strength from his mother's words (_if you ever hit a child or girl, I will come out of thin air and deck you senseless, Zackary Fair)_, which was why he didn't just turn around and swing his arms around wildly, not caring who or what was in his way. The girl, _Yuffie_, the word dripping like poison from a snake's mouth, made Zack's teeth grind. She was as unpleasant as pissing in snow when the only thing to greet him was a cold block of ice.

"I'm dating Aeris," Zack started before he was promptly cut off by the self-proclaimed ninja.

She scoffed and pointed over her shoulder to where the rest of the group lingered not to far away, Cloud and Aeris trailing next to one another, the green-eyed woman panted ever so slightly. "I figured you were with the blonde boy. How old is he? My age, right? You're all 'I'm older, blahdy blah,' and you still look pretty much like a kid to me. Maybe you should grow some facial hair or sumthin'. Might give you some kinda edge, y'know?"

Zack snapped his eyes away from the two others, narrowing them at the black-haired girl. "You just don't know how to shut up, do ya?"

"Nope."

For a moment the raven-haired wondered if there was anything else on the Planet that was quite as annoying as Yuffie. He decided no, and just smiled. Zack slung his arm over the girl's shoulder, surprising both himself and the teenager. "You know what?"

"Uh un."

"_Well_," Zack drawled, letting a smirk flit over his lips, only half-horrifying, "I think we might jus' get along."

"And why do ya say that, huh? Are ya gunna finally let the dog eat me?" Yuffie pulled her body away from Zack, turning fearfully to Red, brandishing her weapon before her. "I'll go ninja on your pet—_kyah!_"

_Maybe this won't work out as well as I hope,_ Zack thought as the weapon slipped from the girl's hands, ricocheting from the ground and damn-near took off Cloud's head.

* * *

Yuffie was different. Not in a good way either.

"So, old man, why aren't you the big honcho dude? Baby-makin' gay-boy kicked you out of the leading with his—"

Barret, if possible, was not looking too healthy, Zack mused as he took a sip of his water. In fact, Barret's eyes were getting large and bulbous.

Aeris put one hand on the black man's shoulder, sending him a pointed look that Zack could easily understand. _Don't kill her._

Zack snorted as he took a sip, a terrible combination which left his eyes watering. He sneezed twice, noting with a bit of frustration that no one had muttered anything at him. Barret was still hoping his eyes would light the puny sixteen-year-old (Aeris had forced the girl to at least inform the others of her age) on fire. She was sucking on a lollipop and doing some sort of savage dance, with her legs twisting in odd positions as she swung around. It was almost as if the sugar was adrenaline or drugs of some sort. Yuffie was just so damn hyper-active, perhaps too much.

"I don't think that's a good question to be asking, Yuffie," Aeris explained, a faux smile spread on her coral lips. "But, if you want, you can come and speak with me as I go make supper. How about that? The guys are a bit tired and cranky and you wouldn't want—" Zack rubbed his nose and gave out another sneeze which interrupted the brunette, "them to be annoyed, right?"

Letting out a quick cough in hope to release the water that still clung to his nose hairs, Zack placed his cup on the ground, avoiding Barret's piercing eyes. He could see the black Avalanche member's hand itching to take the safety off of his gunarm. Zack knew that if the girl was just an _inch_ more annoying than she already was, then there would be little left to her. But, Zack knew that he was annoying, and though it sometimes seemed that Barret would end up riddling his body with bullets, it never seemed to take place.

Not yet, at least.

Aeris clicked her bracelets together, creating a monotonous sound akin to a bell. "Come on, I'll make sure that Tifa gives you an extra spoonful of sugar in your oatmeal tomorrow morning."

This made the girl jump up, waving her arms around. Yuffie pulled out the lollipop from her cherry-stained lips. "You got it!" she yelled, nearly sending the candy into the air when she made an exuberant show to salute Aeris.

Barret mumbled something intelligibly, the ex-SOLDIER only able to catch the words 'dam' mini' and 'you're a damn foo''.

"Aw," Zack sniffled, "you don't like either of us much, do ya?"

Barret did not answer—the silence that penetrated into the man's body was cold and unjustified.

"Well, doesn't matter ta me, bossman. Me and you, even if you don't like it, are stuck doing this until we bring down Shinra and get our hands on Sephiroth." Zack picked at his thumb, placing the digit in his mouth, worrying the tip. "I mean, you know that there's no getting off of this track. We've just got to climb on up and pretend like there's nothing to get in our way."

"You so damn strange," Barret let out a guttural laugh unexpectedly, causing Zack's eyebrows to rise into his hairline. "Both a ya are fuckin' crazy, Spiky. I ain't sure I wanna deal wit' this no more." His words did not match his laughter, even with it rough around the edges sound.

Zack cocked his head. "Have you gotten into the kid's stash of sugar? You aren't acting alright, bossman. Kinda like you've had a bit too much—"

"I ain't no muthafuckin' drunk or some crazy fuck like that gurl," the man snarled, the laughter that once hung in the air now gone, disappearing faster than it could appear.

Zack stood, leaving his cup on the ground. "Y'know what, I think I'm gunna go hang out with Tifa or Cloud. Give you a bit of room—"

"ImissMarlene." Barret stood up as well, speaking far too quickly for Zack to catch.

"I'm a marshmallow? Huh?"

"I sai'," Barret annunciated, "I miss Marlene."

Not knowing what to say, or if it was possible to say anything, Zack sat himself back down. "Ah," he said, wishing he had just walked away. "Wanna talk 'bout it?"

Barret scoffed. "I ain't no sissy school girl like that lil' brat. I don't need ta talk ta you 'bout it. Juz' though' maybe..."

"Well, you have a picture of her, don't you?"

"Naw," he answered. "All I got is mah heart, which ain't 'nuff. Wish I had."

Zack picked up his cup, rocking it between his fingers, the cool condensation on the side soft on his fingers. "Well, you can go and ask Tifa if she's got one. I know she had one back at the bar. Maybe she grabbed it before she left?"

"You mean the pilla' fallin' 'cause o' that red monsta'."

_Red Monster. How fitting. _

* * *

Yuffie was worse than Zack had first thought. She was not only annoying him, but everyone else. He knew they were getting closer to Junon (from the thick cascades of smoke and the smell of burning rubber that would involuntarily wiggle itself into his nostrils) but this just seemed to provoke the girl, who was now singing.

"Cloud and Zack are making _hawt_ luvin' under the tree while Tifa and Aeris are molestin' the baby and carriage and Barret's shooting up the chapel and all Gaia's breakin' loose when Red decides to eat the _smexy _couple doing the _dirtyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy—_"

Zack shook his head, waiting for his eardrums to begin _bleeding_. Yuffie could do something that was more annoying than talk. She could sing, which would have been only acceptable for a deaf man needing loud banging to make his heart stop prematurely. Otherwise, Zack was sure, nothing could survive.

"I think she's doing that to clear a way for us," Aeris whispered, holding her hand up to her face, preventing the boisterous gray-eyed girl from hearing their conversation or reading their lips.

"Maybe it's killing all of the monsters?" Zack interjected, smirking. As Yuffie hit a particularly high note, Zack could see Cloud and Tifa cringe a few feet away. "Or maybe it'll kill us?"

Aeris stiffled a laugh. "You are probably right, Zack. She doesn't seem so _fond_ of us—"

"No, really? Took you long enough to realize that," Cloud yelled over the incessant noise echoing over the fields. "She's trying to kill us."

Zack ran his fingers through the belt-loops of his SOLDIER pants, tugging on them lightly. "You don't seem to be in a very loving mood, Cloudy-boy. I think the song's getting to ya."

"Hardly."

"Mmhmm. Whatever you say, Cloudy. I think she expects it to be true. I suggest sleeping on your butt to protect sudden attempted molestation that this song is so suggesting." Zack wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Or maybe you do...?"

Aeris's laugh changed to something rather shrill.

* * *

Junon was no more beautiful than Midgar. The town below, seeming to be eaten by the large expansive machinery and blue-clothed beasts named grunts, was about as attractive as Yuffie's atrocious singing.

"It looks dead." Cloud looked at the people, Zack's eyes trailing the tracks the mako blue eyes were creating. "Everything here is just... dead."

And Cloud was right.

* * *

**Gah, I hated this chapter because it was basically filler, but the next couple chapters are going to be extremely no filler and all plot and action and **_**movement. **_**Finally, I know. **

**Please Review! **


	34. Below the Lights

**DEDICATION: To LilyMoon'sAlias, for all of the crap she is going through right now with her story being plagiarized by some idiotic child(I am not stating that every teenager is a plagiarist, because that would make me one, and I certainly am not stealing anything). This stuff does happen people, and I hope with everything in me that if any of you ever run into a story that has been plagiarized, you will tell the actual author immediately. I don't care if it's mine or Gumby's story, just tell them. It sucks to have your work— your blood, sweat and tears— jacked by some moron with a keyboard. **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Thirty Eight: Below the Lights

Everyone was sickly pale and underfed. The people of the small town Junon were jagged and weather-beaten, more so pollution beaten. A man sitting in front of the ransacked and dilapidated Inn (or what Zack believed to be the inn) coughed miserably; it was the sound of hopelessness and pain. His old lips had a greenish tint, as if his cells had begun to take on the color of mako, which considering what lay above the small town would not have surprised the raven-haired man in the slighted.

"I agree with you, Cloud," Aeris whispered, hoisting her pack further onto he back. "This place, it's just so..." she wrinkled her nose, "it's disgusting what these people have to live through because of Shinra."

Barret growled a few chosen words. "Neva' undastan' how people can jus' let Shinra come in and destroy everything. It's jus' _wrong_."

"The Shinra do not give these people a choice, if that is not clear enough to you. They are forced to give up their land, consumed by the hungry corporation. I remember," Red's voice dropped as he inspected the ground, pawing through the dirt that was layered with soot and fish bones, "when this place was beautiful. My grandpa had taken me across the ocean to come here—a small fishing harbor that was bountiful with the fruits of the sea."

"Doesn't look like that anymore, huh? Kinda like someone stuck this entire crack-joint in a blender, actually." Yuffie took the lollipop out of her mouth, teeth stained blue this time. "Jeez, you'd think they woulda' at least _tried_ but I guess they're just lame." The gray-eyed girl shrugged her shoulders, her frizzled hair sticking out in the back. She ran her hand, the one clutching the raspberry candy, through her hair, the sugary treat nearly getting tangled in. "Just find me a bathroom and whatnot! I wanna wash my hair and get all of these _old people_ crap off a me. You guys know how groddie it is to have to eat that crap you call food? Big-boobs, you gotta let me cook some time. Maybe we wouldn't all feel yuckie once finished eatin'!"

Zack saw Tifa twitch. "So you can drug them with the amount of sugar you take?" the woman glowered. Her voice cracked, causing a few of the townspeople to turn their eyes to the group. Cloud waved a half-wave as he grimaced, nudging Tifa on the arm. "What?" she snapped, Zack seeing her wine-red eyes boiling with malice.

"Oh yeah, big-boobies? You wanna fight with me? I'll kick your ass you—"

"Yuffie?" Aeris sent a look to Yuffie, her face smiling even as the her temple throbbed viciously. "Yuffie, it may not be the best time to..."

"We're attracting attention," Cloud stated, putting his hand on Tifa's shoulder. "None of us have gotten any sleep and you're just pushing everything, Yuffie."

Barret spoke up next. "An' Tifa's cookin' is jus' fine. I like it an' everybody else likes it. You jus' ain't used ta actual food, y'know, sumthin' that ain't suga' and on a stick."

Zack nudged the girl's pack with his boot. "Yeah, kid. Just let it go for now and we'll go find somewhere where you can shower and eat and 'whatnot'." A vile smirk spread across Zack's lips as he hunched forward, so none of the townspeople lingering around could here. "Just for the record, Tifa's rack is a whole lot nicer than yours."

_Whack_.

"Perverted ol' man! You yuckie, nasty old guy_! Ewwwwwwwwww_!" Yuffie yelled at the top of her lungs, throwing herself onto the ground, far away from Zack. She began rolling around on the ground, her lollipop collecting dust. "_Nastynastynastynastynastyyyyyyy_!"

Touching the back of his head, which didn't hurt all that much and would have disappointed (and infuriated) the Wutaian girl, Zack looked around to the narrowed eyes of Aeris and Cloud, Barret's pissed of scowl, Red's indifference and the crimson hue that scorched over Tifa's face like a masquerade mask.

"Well, I'm not a pedophile and she needed to be brought down a peg or two," Zack tried to explain, but Cloud's fist came too fast for him to notice or block.

* * *

_At least he didn't aim for the nose again,_ Zack thought as he gingerly placed his ice materia against his right eye, wishing that Cloud had a bad aim. The left hook had knocked him square on his poor eye. Now there would be bruising unless...

"No," Aeris stated sharply, hiding her bangle behind her back. "Tifa is rather upset with you—don't give me that look, Zack." She sighed and sat down on the dirty sidewalk next to where Zack sat, giving her his best impression of a puppy dog. "You know that it was wrong to talk about it like..."

"It was a compliment!" Zack cried, thrusting his hands out to catch hold of Aeris'. "You know I wasn't being mean or malicious and Cloud has a thing for hitting me. Just one more time, _pleeeease_?"

Aeris turned to look at where the rest of the group lingered. Cloud stared out into the distance through the fog and smog toward the shoreline, while Yuffie jumped up in down in front of him, holding her throat is if it was choking her. Cloud pointedly ignored her.

"We had to use a Silence spell," Aeris explained as she removed her digits from Zack's pleading fingers, folding them on her lap. "She was too rowdy and a few of the elders of the town stated that if she kept on talking that they would forcefully remove us from town."

Zack coughed, bending into the crook of his raised arm that was still trying to wiggle into the brunette's grip. After a moment he sighed and returned to icing his eye. "Warm welcoming," the raven-haired man added wryly.

"You can't be angry at them. They've had a hard life, much like so many other people controlled by the Shinra. This place, if we believe Red's words, was once beautiful. They hate foreigners and that's exactly what we are to them."

"But I guess a good thing came out of the entire thing," Zack jerked his head to Yuffie, who was stamping her foot on the ground, causing Red to sneeze, "we finally figured out a way to shut the brat up." He smiled and watched as Aeris sighed before pulling the green ball of restore materia from her bangle. "Aw, you do love me." Zack took his hands from his injured eye, placing them, along with the ice materia, against his heart.

Aeris' green eyes widened. "Of course I do," she explained as if speaking to a small child. "I've always loved you. Even when you are talking about other women's... assets."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I like my women with smaller chest. Tifa isn't my type; you are." Zack's mouth felt dry for some unexplainable reason. _Why were those simple words so hard to say? _Zack thought, confused. He loved Aeris. She was _Aeris_. Beautiful, intelligent, charismatic, and so many other things. Why was it so hard now to say three simple words. _Maybe my throat is just dry,_ his rational side answered.

Zack didn't listen to his irrational side; that side had a penchant for answering in riddles.

He was barely pulled from his trance by Aeris' next comment. "Flattery will only get you so far, Zackary. But, I love you anyway."

"Of course you do; I'm Zackary fuckin' Fair."

"Careful," Aeris whispered as she leaned close, the cloud of green spritzing across the wound, "I wouldn't want you to become a narcissist."

Zack moved his head to allow the probing magic to heal every millimeter of wounded flesh. "You wouldn't love me if I was a narcissist?"

Aeris tucked the materia into her bangle once the task was complete. She stood from the sidewalk, swishing her dress lightly. "I don't know, Zack. Just make sure you don't become one, alright? I think, anyway," a deep smile rose, "that Cloud would probably give you quite a few more bruises than that."

Sending a quick look at Cloud, who was standing stoically in front of a hardware store, Yuffie still waving her hands in front of him crazily, Zack gave a wince. "Yeah, wouldn't put it past him. Mean little boy; sometimes I wonder if someone stole his teddy as a kid. There has to be something to explain his, er, well, anger. He was like this before, but not so damn much."

"People can change, especially when they are forced into compromising situations." Aeris hummed.

Giving a quick laugh, Zack retorted, "No one changes, babe. All that happens is that one side is shown less often than the other."

"Anyway," Aeris explained with a sheepish smile, "I just finally got that materia to level up. The last one, might I add. I need you to go send it over, alright?"

"So you don't love me?"

"Of course I do." She leaned over and placed a kiss on Zack's lips, and for a moment he wondered why they felt so cold...

* * *

Zack stared at the piles of mail stacked in the corner of the small post office, wondering if they were even working. Letters, aged with yellow and doused in mold, stuck out in random directions, dates from years back written on the envelopes. The man standing behind the counter looking shockingly similar to the paper, but was missing the mold. His eye's held the knowledge of a century-old man, yet he could not have been half of that.

"Hiya." Zack placed a bag of materia, shining in the dull light coming from the low-watt lightbulbs above, down on the counter. The man eyed him wearily. "I need to send these over to a neighboring town, Landonell? Yeah, that was it." A woman in Kanon had asked for them to be leveled and sent to her son in the small town not to far from Junon. The Mythril Mines were too harsh for her. "So, how much is it going to cost?"

"We do not travel to Landonell any longer," the man stated brusquely. "If you wish to send any mail that is not in this town, I suggest you try above. We have nothing to offer to your kind."

For a moment Zack stood in confusion. "Huh? Wait, are you saying that you won't send out my shit because of what I am? What am I, exactly?"

"Shinra."

Zack scoffed. "Hardly, buddy. Now, how much is it going to cost to send this to Landonell?"

The aged man stood up, sticking out his chest. "Three hundred gil if you wish for anyone in this town to sent your mail."

Looking over at the prices, Zack nearly laughed. He pointed to the sign half obscured by a hefty amount of dirt and dust. "And here it says that it would only cost half as much to get you to send a chocobo to Landonell. But y'know what?" Zack pulled out his wallet, producing several hundreds and fifties, tossing them on the table next to the glowing orbs. "There ya go. Now, can you please send these to Landonell? The address is—"

Grabbing his chest, the man wheezed a shrill reply. "Out of my shop!" he yelled, anger and fear covering his cheeks. "Out!"

"Eh?"

"_Out_!"

"Fuck no; not until you send my shit." Zack banged his fist on the table, rattling the materia and the money. "I'm having a bad day, and I might not be someone you've seen around, but just _send the damn thing_! Come on; just give me a break, will ya? I beg of ya, there's this little brat in my group that follows me around and sings. Oh sweet Gaia, she _sings!_ Please—"

The man ignored Zack's pleading, tossing the bag of marble-like magics and the money, this with delicate touches, as if it would explode and cast a deadly disease or plague on him if it was handled improperly, onto the ground. "Get out," he chanted, "or I will call the authorities or pull out the biggest gun I can find."

"Fine!"

* * *

Seething outside of the rundown post office, Zack was only approached by Tifa, who still seemed less angry about the previous comment on her body now that some time had passed.

"What're you so pissed off about?" she asked, folding her arms subconsciously over her chest area. Zack rolled his eyes and punched the metal pillar in front of him. There was a dent, and for a moment Zack wanted to pull off his Buster Sword from his back and chop the damn thing down. "You're bleeding."

The ex-SOLDIER looked down at his hand, seeing that she was right. There was blood oozing from a new wound, and the adrenaline masked the pain. "Oh, I guess you're right."

Tifa grunted and slapped her foot in the dirt. "So, are you going to answer my question?" she asked.

Zack rubbed his hand on his pants. "Fuckin' guy won't let me send the materia. I gave him the money, _fuck,_ I gave him more than it cost, but he told me to get outta his shop. Don't get what that was about..."

"Did you... show me the money you gave him."

Zack looked at the woman for a moment. "Why?" he asked.

"Just give it to me."

"Fine." Zack handed over the bag of materia he shoved in his pocket along with the money. "Don't see the big fuckin' deal about money. I mean, it's just fucking money."

"It's not, actually," Tifa explained, staring at a few of the bills. "Old currency was taken away and replaced with new money. You've been carrying around Shinra money for a while and giving it out. No wonder the man was angry."

"Huh?"

Tifa clucked her tongue against her teeth. "About five years ago the entire currency was switched. All of the bills were given to a specific sector of Shinra. They're the only people who use it nowadays. This money you've been giving out," she held the bills between her fingers, pointing to the serial numbers, "is literally Shinra money."

"Is that why you flipped out on me the first time I came into the bar?"

Tifa nodded. "I figured you were just a recruit who thought he was hot shit." she explained, scratching her head. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Zack shrugged, looking down at his hand. The wound was filling with some of the mako in his blood. "Well, guess I cut that deep enough."

"How does that work anyway?"

Zack shrugged as he watched his skin knit back together. "Mako in the blood. Sometimes it heals hangnails, but other times it'll only heal the big things. It all has to do with the mako in me and how much materia I've been in contact with." Zack stretched his fingers, not even feeling a sting. "Well, I guess we should get going and find some place to stay before it gets dark. It's already four and I don't think it would be all too great for us to be sleepin' on the sidewalk."

Tifa agreed. "Yeah. We should go find Cloud. He dragged Yuffie off somewhere. I think to the beach."

"Maybe he'll drown her?"

"Don't sound so hopeful," the woman chided. "She's just a kid, and you did want to bring her along."

The two left the area, Zack following after the dark-haired woman. "You know what," Zack said suddenly, causing Tifa to turn around. "I kinda like your cooking."

Zack's violet eyes widened when Tifa scowled. "More than my chest, I hope."

"Oh yes, definitely."

* * *

The beach was not too far off, but the rising tide was swelling. Zack could see a few bodies walking on the sandy shore dotted with the carcasses of the dead sea, but something was not quite _right._ The water was washing up too fast, and there was a large area underneath several towers, where there was an extraordinary amount of light shining down. In the shallow water, something was lingering.

Before Zack could begin to run, Tifa trailing behind, the smallest body was swept below the tide as an enormous monster stuck it's head out of the polluted water and shrieked.

* * *

**Cliffhanger! Sorry, but it was the best way to end this chapter, and I hope you guys understand ****that. Several interesting things came into play with this chapter, but I'm not sure how long it'll take to fully, completely explain them. Until then...**

**Please Review! **


	35. Extrapolation on Water

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Thirty Nine: Extrapolation on Water

Zack watched, his feet hitting the sandy rocks, as Cloud threw his sword to the side and jumped straight into the water. Yuffie looked pale and was clawing at her throat with one hand, making gestures in hope that someone would see her. Zack yelled twice and the black-haired girl turned around, her hand dropping to her weapon.

"_Tifa! Get Barret!_" There was no way he would be able to physically attack the dragon-type monstrosity, but Barret... Barret had bullets. "And get Aeris! Fuck, bring them all!"

Running past Yuffie, Zack began to scream again."What the fuck do you think you're doing!" Zack yelled toward the sea at Cloud, who had resurfaced in the water. "What do you—"

_There's a little girl floating over there, _Zack thought as he saw the blonde dive down, far too close for Zack to enjoy. He was reaching toward a body still caught in the current, the girl's hand still reaching forward, trying to grab at the last rays of light. Zack watched the monster gurgle before sending another wave splashing.

Yuffie made an obscene face before launching her weapon at the thing's tail fins, bouncing off without causing the slightest of damage. Zack knew that he couldn't physically attack the monster. It was too big and too far away. But...

Cloud swam a few feet closer, Zack noticed with a panic, and before the beast could react the ex-SOLDIER reached into the bag of materia for the highest-leveled materia. The cloth brushed against his fingers before touching the third level fire materia. With a growl, Zack plucked out the marble-like ball and concentrated.

The world grew hushed, and all he could feel was the heat in the palm of his hand, and could only hear the rush of his breath inhaling and exhaling. There was nothing there; no screams or colors mingling together in a macabre painting of life and death. It was peace...

And then it was gone the moment his hands filled with fire and he sent it out at the monster dragon. Everything came into a sharp focus and Zack smelled the tell-tale scent of a fire spell of such a caliber hitting its mark. The town would now reek of burned fish for quite a while. The beast dove back into the water, sending a spray of the salty substance back at Zack and a furious, red-faced Yuffie.

"Cloud!" Zack yelled. He cupped his hands together, using them as a faux megaphone. "Hurry up, Chocobo-head! I'm not sure how long that's gunna keep it—" Zack watched Cloud spit out a mouthful of liquid, dragging the unconscious little girl to the shore. But there was blood foaming in the salt water.

There was a commotion behind Zack, but he couldn't twist his eyes away from the mess before him. The blood was not coming from the little girl. "Shit," Zack yelled hoarsely, tightening his fist around the fire materia. His feet scrambled, so unlike himself to scramble, to the water's edge, feeling the water caress his body as he waded out. The beast was still hiding below the water but Cloud and the kid were in too much trouble.

"The girl got sucked in," Cloud wheezed, his leg's still kicking, trying to swim toward the shore. "Couldn't leave her. She'd drown." Zack caught him by the shoulder, noticing the cold temperature of the water and the warmth of the liquid. "M' fine," he stated brashly. "She's not breathing."

"Come on. I'll get you both to the shore. Just grab onto me." They weren't out too far now, and there seemed to be hundreds of pale, fishy faces staring beck from the shore-line, most in a panic. Zack felt Cloud grudgingly grab hold of the Buster Sword, which Zack had forgotten was still strapped to his back. "You holding on tight?"

"Just go," Cloud growled and Zack complied. Swimming and pulling the two into the shallow area was more simple than Zack had thought, with Cloud kicking at the water, allowing him an extra boost of movement. It only took a few breathless moments to be able to turn around and wrap his arms around the blonde and the little girl, hoisting them up and running to the shoreline.

The little girl's father forcefully pulled the little girl from Zack's arms, panic striking his face. "Priscilla!" he yelled, shaking her shoulders in hopes to make the child respond.

"She's not breathing," Zack spit as he laid Cloud down, his eyes scanning the boy's body for wound's. "She needs CPR. Aeris," the black-haired man turned to see the woman clawing her way past the group of villagers, "he's got a wound somewhere. Heal him and _what the fuck are you trying to do!_" Roughly, Zack was pulled down to the ground, Cloud using his body as leverage to push himself up.

Cloud stumbled toward the little girl's body, his voice strong. "Put her down." Zack watched as the father gently laid the girl on the rocky shoreline, away from any of the dead fish.

He pulled himself up from the ground, snapping his head to the side, not looking back at Cloud. The dragon-type monster was screeching again, it's half-burned face a grisly caricature of ugliness. "Barret, shoot the fucking thing; it's whining too loud and Tifa, here--" he threw the somewhat mastered materia to the woman, who caught it in her hand. "Red, get these people back. It's going to send out another wave and we don't need anybody else getting sucked in. Cloud--" Zack turned to look at Cloud, who was pushing down on the girl's chest, attempting to make her heart start up, and stopped.

"Don't do that again," he said under his breath before unsheathing the Buster Sword and wading back out into the water.

_Well, somebody has to get close enough to kill the ugly thing. Guess it's my luck that it's gotta be me. _

* * *

The water was chilled, but there was no reason, or anyone to hear, if Zack complained. Allowing his violet eyes to trace over the dragon of the sea, the ex-SOLDIER wondered how he could possibly get on the damn thing's back. The others were sending out spells and bullets, as well as Yuffie's half-hearted attempts to send her own weapon whizzing at the beast, only to have it bounce back at her. If Zack wasn't so worried about getting his entire body torn to shreds, he would have laughed at the girl's misfortune. As it was, he was neither laughing nor enjoying himself.

The beast was just getting fucking bigger, and Zack was hoping for Tifa to send out a truly remarkable spell of such a magnitude that the water monster was knocked back down into the water, and it would be possible for Zack to impale the ugly fucker through the head. Yet, still, only the weakest of spells were being sent forward and there was yet to be a good one.

"Damn it," Zack cursed. He spit out the water that had gone through his nostrils, coughing at the salt and poisonous fluid. _No wonder the fish keep dying in this_, Zack thought as he paddled closer, able to see the underbelly. There were enormous fins protruding from its sides, colors like a rainbow were produced from the light. "Of course it'd be fucking brightly colored. Guh."

Zack turned to the shore, the crowd around Cloud growing. He couldn't see if the girl was alive, but most were staring down at them. Zack wondered for a jealous moment if anyone was noticing Zack's neck stuck out to the wolves, but he squished it without another moment of hesitation.

Ice seemed to spread all through the water and Zack coughed as the liquid in his nose and lungs froze. He could hear loud screams coming from the beach, but they were so far away. It was getting cold, so very cold, and Zack was losing his strength. The damn body refused to move...

"Shit." Zack listened to his teeth chatter wildly as he broke up the ice surrounding his body with his Buster Sword, feeling his body go numb. Every smash became more difficult to do, each breath became harsher, and Zack could _hear _the blood in his veins turning to ice.

_Well,_ Zack mentally cursed himself, _this really sucks._

Zack felt his eyes freeze open and the creature above him gave a harsh-sounding squeal. He could barely turn his head to the side, but all he was able to see was a chocobo riding a chocobo running over the stretch of ice and nose-diving straight into the sea-dweller. There was no way that was possible, Zack thought as he closed his eyes, taking in a deep, shivering breath. Fucking chocobos.

* * *

**Everything is dark, isn't it? Well, I would expect it to be. You never were great with ice, were you? Of course, you were great at handling everything, but you always were weak against that, weren't you? Even if it was such a small flaw. **

_Bodies all around, everywhere and anywhere, surrounding him and the trenches. It was cold, so cold, and he could barely keep his eyes from sliding shut. Ice in in nostrils, the taste of dirt and blood frozen inside of his mouth, the coldness of the air, the frigid silence. _

_He lay perfectly still, because he knew he was supposed to, barely breathing. It was so hard to move, and he could hear his bones snap if he so much as wiggled. The mountains were never good places to be, to stand and take part of such a fight. Clothing was scarce and the weapon on his back was the only thing of any monetary value. No one would rob him of his possessions, but they would have no issues with taking his life as compensation. He was, after all, the enemy. _

**You used to be able to handle so much more, back then. You were amazing, you truly were. I wonder sometimes what it would be like...**

_The man next to him had died with his eyes frozen open, and when he vomited all that came up was chunks of ice. _

**If you were still there. **

* * *

The bed was just so warm. Warmth and closeness, the smell of a small fire burning in the corner, and Zack sighed in content. Wafting around the room was the scent of food, chocobo and potatoes, from the amazing potency. It was perfect, like a nap right before dinner. Now all he needed was to wait until his mother yelled up that he needed to get cleaned up for dinner, but it never came. All that met his ears was the sound of sizzling and someone's breathing tickling his ear.

Groggily opening his violet eyes, Zack could only see the white fuzz, but as the world righted itself, turning back around the way it was supposed to, where Zack knew that he wasn't sleeping in his room in Gongaga, nor was he smelling the meal his mother prepared. It was a house, surely, but not his. And the body laying next to him in the bed, face turned in his direction, was definitely not his bed or even his bed partner. Too blonde, Zack noticed as he blinked.

Oh.

Right.

"Cloud...?" Zack asked, blinking a few times. The boy was snoring lightly into the pillow, and there was also the tell-tale sound of Barret's snores, Yuffie's skirmishes between Tifa and Aeris, and Red's tail flopping lightly against the floor.

The blonde opened his eyes, curling into a small ball next to Zack. The raven-haired man felt the soft, and wet, spikes touch his cheek. "Whazzit?" The blonde yawned, moving his head against the pillow.

Zack grabbed hold of Cloud by the shoulders, bringing his face an inch to his own. He could feel the sweet tang of the boy's breath on him, and he was suffocating in it. Cloud's bleary eyes opened wider. "What in Gaia are you doing?"

Not knowing exactly what to do, Zack moved one hand from Cloud's shoulder to his hair, gently touching the mass of wet hair, so much like chocobo feathers... so soft...

And he proceeded to smack the boy upside the head.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Zack whispered in a harsh voice, taking great care to not wake up the others. Cloud touched his fingers to his hair as Zack continued, "Did you have any iota of what could have happened? Water like that doesn't freeze like that! You can't just go and freeze ocean water and think it's perfectly fine to go sending a Minerva-damned chocobo— and where the fuck did _that_ come from?— and yourself running over it!"

Cloud clamped his hand over Zack's mouth, only allowing him a mumbled curse. "I did it," The boy seethed, sitting up and straddling Zack. "I did because if I hadn't you'd probably be dead. Thank your lucky stars I'm smart."

"Mugelles bugif friddeg bargaddf!" Zack screamed against Cloud's hard hand, which pushed down further against his mouth.

"Don't start with me." Cloud swung his head to the side to get the hair out of his eyes. "I'm not a fucking bastard, by the way, you perverted hornball from Ifrit's inferno."

"Muuff nugg be krroonhalllg!"

"Yeah, you are. Petty bastard," Cloud tacked on to the end before letting go of the older man below him. "and if I hadn't done that, you would have died of either hypothermia or drowning. Maybe I should have just let the damn monster fall over on you and squish you to death. Maybe you would have been easier to handle." A fierce smile spread across his face.

"Phfft. I'll probably end up outliving you; snide bastard." Zack pushed the blonde away. A quick laugh and a hand to the hair: everything was alright, even if he wanted to strangle the kid. "I just don't get why you would do something so damn foolish. I know that they taught you never to attempt to ice something that's uh, I don't know, _moving body of water_?"

Cloud shrugged. "Whatever you have to say, jackass, is probably something I already know. Now," Cloud moved away from Zack, sliding back to his side of the bed, "dinner'll be ready later. I guess we better go back to bed, at least for a little while. When I took that dive in I barely made it back to the shoreline. And my summons ended up drawing out every last bit of energy I had left."

Zack snickered. "Oh, that's adorable. Your summons is a chocobo? I thought you'd get one like that. I do wonder, when it first saw you, did it wark and snuggle against you? Did it mark you as it's mama?"

"Don't make me hit you, Fair."

He smiled and watched Cloud close his eyes. "Of course you won't, Cloud. And it feels weird when you call me Fair. We're friends, right?"

The boy hmmed and tucked his hands below his pillow. "We are friends. You're a good friend... Zack."

Content with the world and how it was rotating, so perfectly, Zack closed his eyes and dreamed of the sweetness tickling his lips again.

Somewhere deep inside of his subconscious Zack knew it wasn't Aeris's lips.

* * *

**You do not know what havoc you breed.  
****You do not know of the deadly touch you hold.  
****You do now know what your fingers enfold.  
****You do not know of the serpent's kiss you create.  
****You do not... but you do.  
****Oh yes.  
****You do.  
****Your poison shall seep into the brightest lights.  
****And you shall spread forth the most deadly of disease.  
****We are waiting. **

* * *

**Confused? I'm hoping you are. Because, to be frank, so am I. Heh, I still like it, especially the end. And remember kiddies, I told you to remember the dreams. Huzzah! Plot and lots of it! Oh, and how many of you thought they were going to kiss? Haha, I torture you; I'm sorry. And before you ask, yes, that little thing at the bottom is mine. I didn't even noticed that it had the semblance of a rhyme until I reread it. Oopsies. **

**Please Review! **


	36. Sister City of Commotion

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Forty: Sister City of Commotion

The sound was so ugly that it made Zack's head ache and drum with the same wretched tune. Not only was it bad, but borderline insane, with blasting trumpets, drums being beaten so hard there was a loud popping noise of one of the many breaking every few minutes or so, and the cheers of many people. No one in lower, small dreary fish Junon was celebrating.

But that was not why the ex-SOLDIER woke, no matter how much he wished for it to be. It was not the sound, but the little girl sitting half on top of him, squealing into Cloud's ear with delight. He had been in a good dream when she climbed on top of him, sitting there and probably just staring at the blonde, but when Cloud mumbled something in his sleep and turned over, the little thing jumped up. She landed back roughly on top of Zack, who was now completely awake, and began her tirade of questions and pleas of marriage.

"Cloudy! My rescuer! Come on; wake up! I wanna give you a big kiss and snuggle with you! Please, oh please wake up; I promise I won't be loud."

"Already breaking vows, kid," Zack wheezed out. The little girl, the one Cloud had drug from out of the ocean a day before, was squishing him in his bed. "Get offa me." Zack wiggled and the girl fell dramatically and improbably into Cloud, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and burrowed her face into his shoulder. It reminded him of a little chipmunk or squirrel attempting to get into the ground before the wolf ate it.

_Am I the wolf in her head? Huh. Kinda awkward little twerp. Too much like Yuffie... oh Gaia, she was probably the one who set this kid up with these delusions of grandeur and marriage. _

The girl let out a wail, and pulled at Cloud's thick blonde hair. If he hadn't been awake after hearing the girl scream he was once she began the game of tug-a-war with his head as the rope. Zack watched in slight amusement, even as his head pounded a bit louder, as Cloud jerked his head away from the girl and began to pry each one of her digits away.

"Priscilla," Cloud started wearily, seeming to be backing away, edging toward the middle of the bed. He held her little hands, only twelve or so, but still so very annoying, and patted them together. "Why are you waking me up?"

The girl scooted closer, oblivious to Cloud's gestures. A thought came to Zack, and a grotesque sneer spread from one corner of his mouth to the other. Cloud had done something very, very stupid the day before and now was the perfect time to extract revenge. He moved away and toward the very edge of the bed. Zack entwined his legs with the blonde's and when the boy attempted to push Priscilla away, he jerked his legs, causing both to fall into a ball of uncomfortable limbs and a squealing fangirl.

Zack could not contain the laughter bubbling inside of him, erupting in a spew of laughter, smiling, and gut wrenching pain caused from a stitch in his side. Cloud's blue eyes were open to the point of seeing the tiny blood vessels around his irises and the violet-eyed man knew that if they would suddenly pop he would have first-class tickets to the show, no matter how disgusting the act would be.

Once, when he was younger, Zack had owned a small, furry mouse named Solaris, which one of the neighborhood kids had accidentally held to hard and squeezed the eyeballs out. Now, looking at the little tween with her arms wrapped around Cloud's throat, squeezing as she chanted their names together in a foray of rainbows and small hearts, Zack wondered if he'd have to clean up the mess again. But, Cloud was much cuter than Solaris had been, so perhaps there would have been more of a waste that having to scrub off mouse blood from his hands.

"Kid, kid." Zack straightened himself out and leaned over, tapping the girl on the shoulder. "If you don't let go of him, he's not going to want to marry you. 'Specially if you kill him. Just imagine: you'd have to scrub Cloudy-poo's blood and gunk offva your hands."

Surprisingly, and almost astounding, the girl let go of Cloud, who was already turning a shade of plum. The blonde grabbed at his neck and leaped off of the mattress. Small sounds, reminding Zack of the poor mouse of his childhood, came from Cloud's mouth. Priscilla already looked ready to grab him again and commence with squeezing, but somehow, miraculously, she ended up laying on the floor, the wind knocked out of her. Zack hid his foot back under the covers and placed a worried look on his face, one that the girl would have no choice but to believe.

Zack clapped his hands together, drawing the girl's bright blue eyes from Cloud. "Hey, yeah, kiddo." Zack scratched his head and pulled at his blankets. "I uh... I think you should probably go home right now. Cloud has to take a shower and all those guy things, and he'll see you in a little while...? Please?"

"But I have to give Cloud something!" she exclaimed as she stood up and shook the fall from herself. "It's really, really important!"

_Oh Minerva above, if this kid starts shimmying and pulled her clothes off, I'm going to throw her out the front door_, Zack thought as he covered his eyes. The sound seemed to dull down in comparison to the girl's presence. "Hey, yeah." Zack snapped his fingers together in joy. "Why don't you go and get Cloud some water from your house?"

"But there's some water right there, and cleanish cups..." Priscilla gestured to the other side of the small room where a pitcher of water stood on an otherwise empty dresser, a cup dispenser hanging on the wall next to it. A lightly flowered cup stuck out. "And my house is nearly four whole blocks away!"

"But he'd really, _really_, like some water from your house. Wouldn't you, Cloud?"

Cloud nodded his head as a hoarse rasping sound erupted from his throat. "Water..." he said and his eyes darted away from Zack, who he was staring at as though he was an idiot wrapped in a bubble suit, and to the girl. The raven-haired man noticed Cloud's upper lip lightly trembling, ocean blue eyes wide.

_Little fucker is a genius. Almost better at me; he's got that kid wrapped around his pinky finger twenty times over. _Zack was barely able to contain the snort that was fighting to come from his mouth and nostrils until the girl jumped up, swinging her brown hair around for a moment, screeching some words which went through Zack's left ear and out the right. It was something along the lines of 'of course my amazing god with blonde hair and blue eyes! I will get you water because you're going to marry me and I can't have you dying without water!'. Zack couldn't really tell what exactly was said—it was a trouble of ignoring people when they begin to become retards around him.

"My Gaia," Cloud whispered. His face was sickly pale and he seemed to be staring off into the darkest recesses of space, not know the way out. Barely able to move his limbs, Cloud climbed back onto the bed and hid underneath the blankets. Zack heard him mumble for a fortress.

"So, I got rid of the kid because she has to run home for water for you."

Cloud gave a small cry and his head darted out from the blankets. "It's only four blocks away. She'll be back, and then I'm going to end up dead from a squeezing twelve-year-old."

"Hey, you were the one who saved her. You can't blame your mouth for being so soft she thinks you're some type of angel who brought her back from death. Kids're kinda weird. And, I'll bet you twenty gil, that she's already begged her pops to let her marry you—" Cloud's hand clapped around Zack's mouth in fear.

"She might hear you!"

"But I sent her to get you some water."

"But she's one of _them_. She probably has..."

Zack cocked his head to the side, a smirk slipping from one corner of his mouth to the other. "Oh..." he said in mischievousness, "you're actually terrified of the little kid, aren't you?"

Cloud cringed when what sounded like fireworks went off from above. He didn't seem to think for a moment before nodding his head extremely fast, a "Yes," coming out like a bullet from a gun. "You've got to save me," he said, pulling his hands out from the bed. "Normally it wouldn't faze me, but this girl, this Priscilla, she wants me like Yuffie wants candy."

"Noticed that much." Zack put both of his hands behind his head, staring off at the ceiling. "Well," he gave a small knowing smirk as he twisted his head to the side, "you could just trick the kid. Probably isn't smart enough to know all too much or even ask one of the others, so I guess this could work out..." One hand came from behind his head and lightly rubbed his chin. "but the only thing is that you'll need to kind of play along. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah," Cloud mumbled under his breath, Zack seeing that the blonde was now past the stage of horror and now finally noticing the horrible sound. "What in the Planet is that shit?"

Shrugging a bit and leaning up, using his arms to push him up, Zack scratched at his head. His hair was frizzy, he noticed with a bit of anger as a few pieces stuck to his skin but the rest stood out against all gravity. "Gunna guess that it's the Shinra inauguration for Ruf-assholo. That dumb-ass newbie did say that there was going to be some type of thing like this in the Mythril Mines, 'member?"

A quick nod came from Cloud's direction and the ex-SOLDIER continued, "Anyway, that damn music's been playing since before I woke up. That little kid's got a bony ass, y'know. Was sitting on me for like a half a fuckin' hour before you made a noise and made her—"

"Wait--" Cloud's eyes narrowed and a bit of his hair fell in front of his left eye. "You're saying that you were awake with Priscilla sitting on you and you didn't bother to get rid of her?!"

Zack nodded once, sharply. "Yep. Thought about telling her to go, even opened my eyes and mouth, but she was just staring at you with this lusty gleam in her eye, and it was gross so I pretended like I didn't see her. It's not my responsibility to stop fangirls from mind-raping you. I've got to deal with my own fangirls—"

"All you have is Aeris, and she doesn't try to do _that_ while you're half unconscious!" Cloud seethed.

"Oh, like you'd know what we're doing at night, Cloudy-boy."

Cloud turned his head into the blankets in what Zack could only take as disgust as he mocked the older man. "'Oh Aeris, make sure that you don't put your hand there; Cloud's a light sleeper and you don't wanna wake him up with your head like that!'"

Zack narrowly missed the punch aimed at his skull. "Aw." Zack grabbed Cloud and pulled him out of his blankets, and forced the boy's head against his chest as he patted the boy's blonde hair with soft strokes. "Cloudy-woudy, don't be jealous. I still love you!"

There was a muffled reply, but Zack chose to ignore it, especially when the words 'bastard' and 'Fair' were thrown into the mix.

"Now, when the kid comes back form dragging your lily-white ass some water, I'm going to need you to just go with whatever I do, got it? No beating me over the head, screaming or threatening to shove your katana in my ass. Gotcha, right?"

Cloud nodded and mumbled incoherently again.

"What was tha'?"

"I said I won't stab you with Seraphina. It's the name of my sword, Seraphina," Cloud explained slowly.

"Huh," Zack said as he let go of the blonde. "That sounds a bit familiar. Heh, not important anyway, right?"

"Nope," Cloud shrugged. "So, what's the plan to take Priscilla leave me be?"

Zack rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "Wait until she gets back, which should be soon, as far as I'm aware. Doesn't take all that long to run four blocks and back. Maybe a bit harder with a glass of water that you aren't trying to break or spill, but I'd expect that she'll haul ass to get here quick. Just do whatever I do, gotcha?"

"Fine, fine."

* * *

Zack did not know exactly what to do. While he was a brilliant man, or so he prided himself to be, sometimes he knew his plans would backfire on him and light his ass on fire. Which was, unsurprisingly, exactly what happened when the girl burst into the room and Zack pinned Cloud to the bed and leaned forward, his lips an inch away from the blonde's. There was a tense moment where Cloud's face warped into something unimaginable and Zack moved his knee to the teenager's thigh, tapping him lightly to remind him to just go with it, to go with the flow.

Priscilla dropped the glass of water and the cup shattered when it impacted the floor. Zack couldn't turn away from Cloud, in risk of blowing the entire idea up in a cloud of formidable smoke, no pun intended. So, they were still, Zack on top of Cloud, lips all but brushing his own soft ones, while a little girl watched on, her heart probably breaking in two. It was a harsh reality, and Zack felt a twinge of guilt when he heard the girl flop ungracefully to the floor in a fit of tears.

They hadn't even needed to kiss.

"Oh! _Oh_! Yo—you're toget—" Priscilla hiccuped nosily as she attempted to make words out of the sight she had seen. Zack wanted to laugh but chose to keep still. He sent one look at Cloud, his parted mouth seeming to glisten. _Maybe one day this kid'll get someone, get lucky and get somebody like Cloud,_ He thought as he sent a brief wink to the blonde before backing up.

"I, uh, yeah," Cloud said nervously as he scooted off of the bed, and Zack watched, not surprised when he got off of the bed and patted the girl on the shoulder. "You're very pretty, Priscilla," there was a bit of exasperation in the boy's voice, "but I'm far too old for you, you see. And anyway, I'm... with someone." Zack scratched his head again the moment Cloud sent an angry glare his way.

Zack mouthed a quick, 'You were the one to agree with me, dumbass,', before speaking to the little girl. "But I'm sure if Cloud here wasn't already in a relationship, and was like, seven years younger, he'd totally be with you."

"But he's only sixteen!" Priscilla wailed dramatically. Zack wondered for a moment if the girl wanted to become and actress, a definite possibility considering the copious amounts of tears running down her cheeks.

"An' who told you that?"

"Yuffie!"

_Little twit. I'm going to strangle her with both hands._ Zack pitied the poor girl now, and he gave a rather embarrassed sigh. "He's twenty-one, sweetheart," there was a sniffle and Zack saw Cloud take his hand from the girl's hair. "Yuffie made a big lie and said that Cloud was younger, but he isn't. He may look like he's sixteen, and he sure as Gaia acts like it sometimes, but he's too old for you kiddo."

"Yeah, Zack's right." Cloud knelt down near the girl, resuming his patting. "Yuffie didn't tell you the truth, and I'm sorry you're so sad. Just..."

"If you were five years younger and didn't like boys, would you be with me?"

_Oh my... _

"You'd be the first girl on my list."

* * *

"Tif— it'd probably be best if you kept Yuffie away from me and Chocobo-head here for a lil' while. We are kinda planning out her death, and it's extremely bloody and stuff. I know you want to kill her yourself, so you can have that. Just keep her away."

Zack looked over at the bouncy, overly-hyper girl that was playing on the front steps with Priscilla, who still refused to smile. Zack felt a twang of pity to the poor girl; the first heartbreak was never the best, and always ended messily. Like pinning Cloud underneath him. _Boy, that was a bad idea,_ Zack thought as he snapped his eyes away from the little girl, who sat with her head in her hands, heart probably, no doubt, crushed by their antics earlier.

"And what did she do this time?" Tifa asked as she put her hands on her hips, sending a look to the area where Yuffie was playing.

"Told the poor kid that Cloud was sixteen and available for her to woo. She glomped him this morning and scared the living shit out of him. We kinda, uh, played a bit of a trick on her to get her away; she was giving both of us the heebie-jeebies. Anyway, a broken heart later, we found out that it was twit. I think I may have been hallucinating when I said maybe we should bring her along with us. Too late now, though. She's become a disease we can't heal. Still, maybe we can tie her up and leave her somewhere later on."

Tifa huffed and grabbed her ponytail. "And how did you convince Priscilla that Cloud wasn't available?" There was something in her voice, a bitter trace of arsenic, and the ex-SOLDIER was reminded of a day not too long ago where the sun was gone and there was just pools of blue. Tifa was a protective woman, and Zack knew exactly what would happen if he told her.

"Just a little trick, Tifa doll. Don't you worry your pretty head over it. Anyhow, got the kid to maybe snap into reality. I think she kind of hates me all kinds though. Yep." Zack nodded his head sagely when the girl picked up her head and narrowed her eyes at him. He couldn't be mad in the least; it was his fault that Cloud was no longer a possibility in her life. Wouldn't stop her for long though.

_Kids tend to build their own make-believe world. In a month's time she'll be thinking that she can break us up, a non-existent couple, and run off with him into the sunset on chocobo. Yeah. Kids are a bit weird. I wonder, did I ever do that crazy shit? _

"Can we pretend like you know what we did and that you feel at least slightly bad for me, who has to deal with little girl glaring and making little voodoo dolls to stab, hoping it inflicts pain on me? And I'm not mean or a bad person, do quit looking at me like that."

"Mmhmm." Tifa dropped her hands to the side. "Anyway, where is Cloud? I haven't seen him."

Zack pointed to the small post office, where Cloud leaned against the door. "He's the town hero at the moment, so I suckered him into getting the post office to send the materia to the next town. Guy in there probably wishes me dead."

"Only a little," the dark-haired woman smiled softly, reminding Zack for a moment of his own mother. Granted, his mother had a mean streak a mile long, but the woman loved him. Tifa probably didn't love him at all, only thinking of him as a friend, at best, but Zack was grateful to her... even when she threatening him.

"Ah, I helped kill the beastie that wanted to eat the town's favorite fangirl, so I guess I'm a little more liked than yesterday. And do you know when exactly that damn fanfare for Rufus started?"

Tifa did not know. "I'm sorry," she said. There was a moment of silence before she continued. "When I woke up it was playing, so I'm going to say probably before seven and _what the fuckis Cloud doing_?"

Zack turned to see Cloud being mercilessly hugged, much like earlier, by Priscilla again.

"Oh well. His death."

* * *

"So she wants you to use her dolphin to get into Junon?" Zack felt as perplexed as he was sure he looked. How in the world was that possible? Use a dolphin to get into Junon?

Cloud nodded. "She gave me some materia as well."He held out his wrist. A small ball of red hung next to his other summons materia. "It's not another chocobo," Cloud stated scathingly. "It's actually a rather beautiful woman goddess. Priscilla called her 'Shiva' and said that it was her grandfather's. And no Yuffie, I am not giving it to you, especially after this morning's fiasco."

"Aw, that wasn't my fault, you big meany-face!"

"It does not matter, Yuffie. I believe that it would be best for Cloud to follow this young girl and use this dolphin to get into Junon. It is plausible for you to help us get in, correct, Cloud?" Red nudged himself into the circle, drawing attention from the girl, who was before then still glaring daggers at Zack. Now though, to the violet-eyed man's pleasure, she was too busy playing with Red's hair; at least it wasn't him.

"Maybe Cloud and Zack could...?"

"No, Miss Aeris! I refuse to help him!" Zack looked down when he heard Red give a small growl. The girl had her hands entwined in Red's fur, and they didn't look as if they would be coming out any time soon. "Only Cloud!"

_Well, Cloud's more than competent. And even though I'm supposed to be the leader, he'll have to go alone._ Zack scrunched his nose in distaste. Priscilla was becoming more and more bothersome by the moment.

"Jus' long as he gets us in. I don' care how he does it. Chocobo-head, you're gunna go 'lone, 'ight?"

"Fine, Barret. I'll go alone."

Zack looked at Cloud, whose face was lost in the sea. He was turned away from the group, and eyes trained into the wide, polluted ocean. There was something there, in his bright mako blue eyes that made Zack shiver with unknown, unthinkable emotions.

The dream from the night before came back, and Zack tasted curdled milk on his tongue.

There was something that wasn't quite right, but Zack felt that it had nothing to do with Cloud. There was something in the air, like impending war, and Zack could feel it against his skin. It was in his nostrils, on his tongue, in his very being.

But Zack ignored it because the time for worrying was not at that moment, with the dead fish smell and light breeze of salt and death.

Midgar was the city of fools, but Junon was its sister.

* * *

**The end of this chapter, and I'm really kind of pleased and at the same time not very pleased. I know, I'm trying to understand that myself. Anyway, I hope you liked it!**

**Please Review! **


	37. Streets on Fire

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Forty One: Streets on Fire

"So, why didn't you want to go with him?" Tifa asked. She was standing away from the beach, near the houses. Her eyes, however, were staring at the area where Cloud was attempting to ride a dolphin. While the girl may have been trying to be polite, or obsessive considering the facts, the very idea of a _dolphin _of all things helping him to get above the steel bars was nearly idiotic. Nearly, because of the fact that the damn thing was getting close. Cloud just wasn't jumping high enough.

"I figured he'd wanna do something on his own," Zack replied. He patted his head. "Plus, that kid woulda killed me if I offered myself up. Probably would have had Mister Dolphin toss me into the nearest electrical tower. She likes Cloud enough. Probably just shy from the amount you like him, hm?"

Tifa turned and glared. Her eyes seemed to glow with both possessiveness and anger. Somehow, however, her words were calm enough— on the outside. "I don't see why you have to say things like that."

"Well, toots, you're the one who said it after all, right? I mean, I don't come up with all of this stuff on my lonesome, you know." Zack kicked a bit of dirt up, watching it cloud before fluttering in the light wind toward the sea. For a brief moment Zack looked up to see Cloud. He was spitting out a bit of water, his bright blonde spikes sticking to his face. The look was so adorable—he looked like a wet puppy, or what a chocobo would look like if it was possible to get them anywhere near water.

Cracking a smile, the ex-SOLDIER turned back to Tifa, watching her scrutinizing eyes. "Anyway, you're just waiting for him, right?" Not waiting for a response, Zack continued quickly, "Well, sorry to be the one to break it to ya, but Cloud's about as much of a first move guy as I am a girl. And don't get on my hair—it's hot."

The woman sighed and leaned against the nearest building, her back rigid, looking as if she would break if moved. Actually, now that he could see her fully, she looked completely worn, as if she hadn't slept in days. There was traces of black smudged under her eyes and there was something in the air, something sad and heart wrenching that Zack wanted to bend down his head in shame. This wasn't Tifa; it was like her entire person had been switched with something depressing, broken.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Zack asked. "It wasn't 'bout something I said, right?"

"No..." Tifa shook her head. Her head just seemed to bob there, lifelessly for a second, no body attached, no spirit.

"Then what is it?"

"You know what it is."

"Pools of blue?"

"Yes."

Zack ground his foot into the dirt again, this time subtly murmuring a few curse words that the brunette had not caught. _Damn. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up. _

_Cloud._ Of course it was Cloud; Tifa loved Cloud, and Cloud had yet to snap into it and tell her that he loved her too. After all, hadn't he been in love with Tifa five years ago? When they had been inside of Nibelheim— Zack had to resist the urge to shriek and tear out his hair, peel his skin off, anything to get rid of the things floating inside of his skull— Cloud had been so completely infatuated with the girl with cowboy boots and hat, a snarky, somewhat snotty attitude. Surely he wouldn't think those things about Tifa anymore, with her heart of gold, but still... it made absolutely no sense.

In Midgar, Cloud had been confused about Tifa, that much Zack was sure of, but did he not like her at all, even after their time trekking through the wide fields?

"What's wrong with Cloudy-boy?" Zack asked, looking back at the blonde, who was once again attempting to get onto the steel beams hanging so high above.

"He'll never see me, right?" Tifa's voice was meek, barely heard over the sound of the drums and trumpets. The only reason Zack had heard was because of his ears, the mako running through them and making everything just that much louder. When she spoke up again, it was just a little louder. "He's never going to be able to settle down with me; he'll never want to. Holy, _he doesn't even look his age_. Would this be what he'd look like if I hadn't been there? He always pressured himself because of me... I was the one..."

"That made him try to join SOLDIER?" Zack finished the woman's sentence, and she nodded curtly. There was a moment of hesitation before he spoke. "Tifa—he's one of those guys. No matter what anyone did or does, he'll always follow his own path. The snarky bastard's like that, if ya haven't noticed; he'll do anything he damn-well pleases at times. Nothing you could have said would have kept him in that little town. Nothing his ma would have said could have kept him, either."

Tifa sniffled, and for the first time Zack noticed that there were actual tears running down her face, however silently she had attempted to keep them. She waved his hand away with a "I'm fine, just please don't do that," when he tried to console her.

There needed to be guidelines to taking care of women, and if there was one written Zack would have had the first copy. He looked down to his hands, scarred from years of swordwork, years of playing in trees and getting his hands smashed in truck doors. These weren't hands that could really comfort a woman. It wasn't right.

"He looks so young," Tifa continued, "I feel guilty about loving him. He still looks like a teenager, and he'll probably look that way for the rest of his life. He's too much of an angel to age and grow." Zack hid his hands in his pockets as Tifa spoke, her words giving a blurry image of Cloud, a halo of light surrounding his golden locks, eyes closed in peaceful beauty. It was something people should erect a statue of—marble and soft curves. Delicate—innocent—pure.

"I remember how he looked in that tube; he was so scared, his eyes were red and they stared at me in fear and horror. He looked like a wild animal. And when we got up there, my Gaia, I thought he was dying on that metal slab. That isn't him—that isn't right."

"He's so tiny," Zack added, fingernails digging into the material of his pant's pocket. Cracking a half-smile, Zack looked back up to see Tifa already dry of the tears she had shed, looking ashamed. "I just noticed that I've had practically this same conversation with Aeris. Looks like I'm even starting to steal things she says."

Tifa cracked a smile. "Well, she's a smart woman on some things. You, not so much."

"Ouch, babe." Zack took out his hand from his pocket, placing it chastely over his heart. "You're makin' my poor heart break. Not cool, you know that, right?" Tifa shrugged. "Eh, anyway, let's go stand in front of the post office. The guy should be coming back anytime soon, y'know."

* * *

Zack was happy about one thing, for certain, even if it didn't make the others quite as happy. When Cloud got back from above (his face a little bit green), Zack and the group sitting in front of Priscilla's home, Yuffie trying to make Red drink some odd red liquid from her cup which Zack thought smelled like nail polish remover mixed with a certain amount of antifreeze, he looked oddly..._ smug_.

While Cloud was many things, able to pull off any face and emotion, smug was not one of his favorite things to see on the blonde's face. Yet, what he held in his hands was worth all of its price in gil and probably a few souls. A bag of uniforms, Cloud said as he distributed them to the group behind Priscilla's home where there was no one to see, were not exactly the easiest things to get. It took him nearly two hours to scrap up enough time to go ransacking through many a people's homes and personal belongings, jacking anything that looked like it could even remotely fit one of the Avalanche members.

"And Barret, if this doesn't fit you, I'm not exactly sure what I will be able to do," Cloud explained as he handed over a few large pieces of clothing that Zack knew for a fact had to have been tailor-made. There was no way that Shinra ran sizes that big, no matter what anyone said. It wasn't a normal size, and the closest thing to it was Angeal, and Angeal wasn't even that big.

Zack had the urge to laugh his lungs out. How did Cloud manage to find that sailor's outfit, Zack wasn't sure he wanted to find out, but it was amusing nonetheless.

"I'll fit innit jus' fine." Barret narrowed his black eyes, going from Zack to Cloud. "An' you ain't gunna do what Spiky did, right? Ain't gunna be hittin' on no guard to get us up..."

If there had been anything liquid in Cloud's mouth, Zack would have imagined it would have squirted out and against the house. It was rickety enough to fall down if something so very powerful rammed into it, but it was too funny to not think of.

"He did what?" Aeris and Cloud asked, both of their voices loud and to Zack's ears, screechy. Wincing, Zack waited for Cloud to make a permanent indent in his face with is fist, or Aeris swinging her staff at Zack's unguarded legs, but the only thing that came was a strong silence and Yuffie's cackles of glee.

"_Ohmygawd_!" She clapped her hands enthusiastically with as much emotion as possible. "I knew you had it in you—even if you did it before you met me but that's alright! I'm still sad that you, old man, don't want me, but you know, I can _totally_ deal with that if you hit on guys in front of me. Come on, do it! _Doitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoi—mugh_."

Zack snapped his head to the ground, thinking that perhaps Red had shut the little twerp up, but surprisingly, it was not.

"Huh?" Zack said, wanting to scratch his head in confusion. It wasn't Tifa, Aeris or Cloud, nor Red, apparently, but Barret?

"Couldn' take 'nutha minute o' her yappin' off an' getting more annoyin' by the second. Shit," Barret swore as he tossed the glowing green materia back at Aeris, who nearly missed catching it in her hands. "Fuckin' thing jus' did some _funky shi' _in my hand. What was tha'?"

Watching Aeris move the materia before her hand, the ball lit up and glowed brightly for a brief amount of time before she slipped it into her bangle. "It went up another level," Aeris said, smiling at Yuffie, who was stomping her feet on the ground, nearly kicking Red in the skull. "I guess we could use our materia on you more, Yuffie. Though it's mean..." Aeris put her finger up to her lip.

"Psh, that thing'll be leveled up before we get across the sea."

"Wai' one minute—we goin' across da sea? Aw, shit." Barret threw the sailor uniform over his gunarm in aggravation.

Zack sent a look over to Cloud, who was staring in boredom at the ground. "What do you mean, Cloudy? Are you actually saying a boat—they move you know, right?"

_Now the greenness is explainable,_ Zack thought as he watched Cloud visibly shiver in what the raven-haired man could only assume was disgust.

"I'm quite aware, thanks," Cloud ground out, if anything his face turning another color. "But we should split up now—send Yuffie with Red and Barret, Aeris and Tifa go together, and Zack and myself. We need to cover all ground, but make sure you put these uniforms on, and girls, hide your..."

"What Cloudy-baby wants to say is that you need to hide your jugs, girlies. Not you, Yuffie, as you have none, y'know." Without one minor glitch or emotion, Zack turned around, grabbing Cloud's arm and with a loud "_Ummph_," he pulled the flustered boy away from the group before anyone could mutter or attempt to scratch out his eyes, as in a certain black-haired wannabe ninja wanted to do at that moment, certainly.

Zack didn't bother to stop until they were behind another house, planks of murky brown and spiked nails staring out at them. It was like standing in the church in the slums all over again, the rare bit of light shining down at the place they stood, though Zack was nearly sure it was artificial, and the wooden planks staring down at him, yelling and screaming as someone creaked against them.

"You never got to go to the church," Zack stated as Cloud tossed the uniform over his head, pulling the bright cerulean material over his head and other clothing.

Cloud gave a loud noise. "No, I haven't. While you were falling through buildings, I was trying to find Tifa to make sure that she wasn't being sold off to that disgusting pervert. Guh."

"Oh yeah." He hadn't forgotten, far from it, in fact, but the raven-haired man just didn't want to bring it up. That was a topic that wasn't quite as fresh as it was in the weeks before, but _still_. "Uh, Cloudy?"

The blue-eyed boy pulled his blue pants up, wiping way a thin stream of sweat from his brow as he wiggled himself in. "Wha'?" Once he was finished buttoning the top he threw another uniform at Zack, who caught it.

"Uh, yeah, Corneo doesn't know you're a guy yet... and he had posters up in Sector Six searching for you."There really wasn't an easy way to say it, but Cloud didn't seem to be fazed in the least.

Cloud gave a shrug. "Oh well. Figured he'd do it—but that's the least of my worries. Sephiroth is a much more important target."

* * *

"So, you've got everything figured out?" Zack spoke through his helmet, which he had stolen from the nearest apartment complex once he and Cloud got up through the elevator, a few meager bucks shorter. They hadn't been noticed, thankfully, and now were both fully concealed.

The sky was like fire. It was the first time Zack had seem the sky of Junon in a long time, over five years. He had always liked the sky, a little more than Midgar's, because even when it was covered with thick clusters of smoggy clouds that blocked out most of the light, the morning sunshine still shone brightly, as if it was fighting against the blackness. The people below would have killed for their light back, their fish supplies restocked, oceans cleaned, but because none of that was about to happen, Zack could only smile at what it was now. Even if it was a grim smile.

The two looked like they could fit in easily; just two grunts that hadn't made it into SOLDIER, stuck going to an inauguration because Rufus was there and Sephiroth was bound to be somewhere close. The silver-haired general had a way of doing that—being in places he was least welcome.

"Yes. There is going to be a ship in dock, which Rufus is planning on traveling to Costa del Sol with, and it's going to be swarming with lower-ranked grunts and sailors. We'll fit in, especially once I saw what they've been allowing into the program. Zack—they have a pregnant woman. A pregnant woman! I wouldn't have an issue with this, you know, but she was wielding a gun and in full uniform. That's not healthy. And then, there was a boy who couldn't have been fourteen." Cloud shook his head so hard Zack was sure he could hear the blonde's brain addle and scramble.

Zack opened the nearest door, feeling a cool breeze of stagnant liquor and smoke hit his covered body. He remembered then exactly why he hated the Shinra grunt uniforms; they didn't let any air in! And, when coupled with the fact that Zack and Cloud both were wearing double the amount of clothing and how it was a beachy, November morning, which did not mean snow and temperatures of comfort, it was even more unpleasant.

Despite this, Zack sighed as he entered the _Shinra Outpost_, a place Zack had spent much time in when he was previously in Junon, after clearing the city of Shinra enemies. It was a nicer day that that—the streets were not on fire, and there were no faces of fear staring back at him.

But, there was a familiar drunken face looking over his shoulder, a woman leaning over him, whispering into his ear.

_What the fuck is he__ doing; drinking on the job _now? Zack jerked his head hastily to the side, an order from Cloud to get into the nearest booth, where the blonde lifted up his visor, staring at the place where Zack was. Reno looked completely inebriated, beyond the point of knowing anything more than the large chest in front of him.

"You seem pretty alone," she commented, and Zack wanted to rip her face off, "and I was wondering if maybe we could, _y'know_, have a lil' fun, I suppose."

_And now taking on hookers? Damn, Reno; you've sunk further than low. I wonder what's got your nuts in a ironfist. _The Reno Zack knew would have pushed the woman away, big chest and all, but Zack watched in rapt fascination as the two continued their conversation, or Reno's one-liner and then woman raping one of the poor glasses.

"That's the guy who shot you, right?" Cloud asked when the woman wobbly helped the red-haired Turk up and out of the bar, her lips turned—she was going to be paid well and she damn well _knew _it.

"Yeah." Zack wanted to casually brush the conversation the woman and Reno had held, but it was like a nightmare. So, the red-head really was done with him. It made no sense though, considering everything—the key, saving Cloud, Aeris's church, the flower—but, as with Reno, nothing did ever tend to make sense. "That was your drunken highness himself." He turned to look at Cloud, who was running his fingers around a beer ring, left for so long that it was now a part of the table.

Cloud's eyes were bright, and he pushed down the visor to block Zack's view. "That's sad, Zack. No person should drop that far. That was... one of those... right?"

"A hooker?" Zack sank low into the red leather, feeling it squish against his clothing. "You got it, Cloudy. Ding, ding, ding." He hadn't expected his voice to be so devoid of emotion; it was almost frightening.

"He was a friend once, right?"

Zack watched Cloud run his fingers over the beer stain. "You see that?" Zack leaned over and grabbed Cloud's hand, taking it away from the table, folding back all of the fingers except for the index finger, which he then placed back down on the stain, moving it in a circular motion. Around and around an around: it wasn't easy to explain.

"You two were kind of like this, right?" Cloud whispered, and Zack actually took a second to unscramble the words, placing them back together like a jigsaw puzzle.

"Just this thing that keeps going in circles and circles without ever coming to a conclusion or an answer?" Gently, Zack left go of the boy's hand, leaving it hovering in the air before it crashed back down to the table with a thud.

Hesitancy was in the air, like smog. "So that's what you two were to each other?" Doubt and insincerity twinged in the blue-eyed boy's voice.

_But is he a boy or a man? Tifa had questioned it earlier. He's so fragile, a mind and body of a boy still barely sixteen, but he's been on this Planet for twenty-one years, so what is he?_

"You act like such a kid sometimes," chided Zack. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do—buy you a couple of action figures or a blowup doll."

All seriousness melted from Zack's face as Cloud's became pinched.

"That was a sentimental moment you just destroyed."

Zack nodded his head, more than happy to agree. "You gotta love me— I break the ice well, munchkin. Better than most, who'd sit there and angst for the next hour over life and choices and fate. Sorry, but I don't wanna do that. And plus, I think we better get some drinks, 'cause I have a feeling the next couple days aren't going to be sex on the beach."

No movement came from Cloud until he snapped his visor back up. "Fine, whatever. Just go get a couple of drinks then."

Smiling brightly, Zack bounced up and attempted to pull his wallet out from his second pair of pants, getting Cloud to hiss at him once that his clothing was riding up and showing. Zack pretended not to hear, but made sure he pulled his pants down just a bit, straight to the hipbone, and prodded it out a few times, snickering all the same.

When Zack turned, a promise of good, strong, cheap liquor, he knew he heard Cloud, but he didn't want to.

"You joke, but never answer."

_That's right, Cloud. I'll keep skirting around anything that I don't wanna answer. I don't care what it's about—Reno, Sephiroth, Junon, Angeal, Nibelheim... anything. Neither of us need that right now. We just need to concentrate on one damn thing at a time. Make sure Sephiroth is dealt with accordingly and shit, and then we can attempt to take on the rest. And you don't need to be worrying about Reno. _

_I'm his mistake. _

_And he is mine. _

_Just like he said. He always said we would probably drive one another insane in the end. It didn't happen to me, but it looks like it might have happened to him. Hookers and booze and all—this isn't the Reno I knew. _

_This is just a cheap imitation. _

_I remember a day where the streets were on fire in the middle of the night, and sometimes, like now, I wonder if anything would be different if I hadn't taken those steps. Stepping toward the fire is death. If only I had known that on both accounts. _

_This city holds too many things it shouldn't. _

* * *

**I don't think that their relationship was a mistake. Just so those of you who are kind of loving the past Zano action don't get angry. And more will be explained about that later. I love Reno, but I'm going to guess that a lot of you didn't think about it when they first entered the bar, did ya? Haha. **

**Please Review! Maybe we can get to 500? Maybe? Just because this is this story's six month anniversary is tomorrow! WOOT! I'd like to put up an interlude tomorrow for it, but it all depends on you guys. **


	38. Interlude Seven: Call it Puppy

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Interlude Seven: Call it Puppy

Zack Fair, age fifteen (though he would glare daggers at the speaker and forcefully add 'and a half' even though that was a lie, too), height five feet six inches (okay, maybe only five feet four...), weight one hundred and twenty eight pounds, eye color blue, and all those unnecessary things that were basically bullshit, stood staring blankly on the train. Three days of traveling by boat, then by truck, and then finally by train, once they got into the city, had taken their toll on the Gongagan teenager, but he never complained once about it. Compared to the conditions he would be living in for the next couple of months, until he would be able to get out of the grunts, would be much like that—doing things that no one wants to do. If he complained, what would that show his superiors—he was weak and a complainer?

"Fuck no," Zack grumbled to himself as he looked around the compartment, fifty other worn, tired faces staring back. Most were sunburned, a tell-tale sign of coming from a little town. These people from Midgar, with their snazzily button-up uniforms of crimson and blue, were like gods to the boy. There was a sheen to their skin only available to people who lived in the city; a crossbreed between white and yellow, and Zack found the parlor amazing and beautiful.

"What you' sayin'?" one of the boys nearby questioned as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pack, turning it over to Zack, who declined hastily. "You ain't a smoker?"

"Uh..." The black-haired teenager rubbed his head. "Don't wanna screw up my lungs, you know. Wanna be in SOLDIER, not a grunt for the rest of my life!"

The other boy gave him a look between confusion and annoyance before tucking the pack back inside of his satchel of objects, the few things from home. "Bad habit I picked up from my pops," he said as he lit the stick. Then putting his hand out for Zack's, who took it. "Jamie Heusen, grunt like your ass. From Rio, a lil' over from Costa del Sol. You?"

"Gongaga," Zack answered immediately.

"Place Shinra built a new reactor, right?"

Yes, there was a new mako reactor near the town, which was the exact reason why Zack stood on the train, staring at some brown-haired kid with a cigarette dangling from his hand, raising it one occasion to take a puff. That was why he was here, Zack thought as he stared at the smoke. That guy, freaking weirdo who had that bright red hair and that smirk, had made him want to be in Shinra just that much more. The next week, with his parents still sleeping, unknown to them until they woke to find their little boy not in his bed and tracks from their house in the snow, heading all the way to the reactor, Zack had taken off with a group of grunts and a few other straggler teenagers from the surrounding area. This was freedom, and Zack wanted more of it.

Was he a man, now that he was so far away from his parents? Probably not, Zack conceded. But still...

"How'd you get here?" Zack asked as he heard a loud ding. They were getting close to the center of the Upper Plate of Midgar, where the blue-eyed teenager knew Shinra Headquarters was located.

Jamie gave a shrug. "Got bored with living a fisherman's son's life. Got up, told my pops an' ma I was leaving. Whipped my ass pretty good, that old man, but I still got out fast enough. Came this close," the brunette held out his fingers only a few centimeters apart, "to not makin' it, but I did. I'm gunna be a Turk, I think. You?"

Zack made a face. "Turk? Part of the Department of Administrative Research?"

The boy gave a snort. "Hardly what they do. They're like spies and stuff. Always wanted to be one since my cousin became one. He's a fuckin' bad-ass, but my parents didn't like talking about him. Left about six years ago when he was fourteen or so. Made it up high, too. Second in rank, right underneath this dude named Tseng."

Giving a low whistle, Zack agreed. "That's amazing. So, you thinking that it runs in the blood or something?"

A brief whistle came from the train, startling Zack and the other boy as well as many of the other tired teenagers in the seats. A few of the ones who were standing up, like Zack, shook their shoulders and arms away from the bars above, which they had been holding on to.

"Blood?" Jamie asked when he stood up from his seat, stretching. "Hardly."

* * *

Once Zack had finished filling out the paperwork, haggling with the grunt that was in charge of the ID station until Zack was able to pose however he wished (after Zack pleaded for nearly ten minutes). Even though it was the military, Zack wanted to see how far he was able to push their buttons. He did it well, too; the guy had finally just given up, tossing one of the better ID's made to Zack and telling him that if he had the power, his white ass would have been gone, out of the street, with a big-ass bruise.

But... because the guy had no power, Zack just nodded his head and smirked. The vein in the man's forehead looked like it was about to burst.

None of that mattered, now. Zack knew exactly what he could and couldn't do. He was able to joke off a goof around, at least a little, but not to anyone who looked like they actually had power. Like, for example, the SOLDIER First-Class that was standing arms crossed in front of the group of fifty boys, himself included. Zack made sure his back was straight, eyes directly staring forward, and no expression.

This guy looked fucking cool, but scary at the same time. A large sword hung from his back, which was the first thing that his blue eyes were drawn to, and then the tamed spikes going down to the man's shoulders. He had a face that was masked with seriousness, and yet _this was the type of guy Zack wanted to be_. Except, perhaps, most of the seriousness would be wiped out and turned into fun and amusement.

There was another man near him, Zack noticed when the black-haired SOLDIER walked back and forth, talking in low tones that Zack couldn't make out. Zack couldn't see him, however, even when he attempted, once, to look over.

"You, there," The SOLDIER, who had been silent until then, said, his voice booming loud. Zack froze up and pulled back, his face feeling as if it was on fire. The man backtracked, and all Zack could think and hope and _pray_ was that the First-Class wasn't looking at him or talking to him...

Which, of course, he was.

"You there," the SOLDIER stated again, his bright, mako blue eyes shining with danger. He stood in front of Zack, and said, "Do you know what you are?"

"Sir, no sir," Zack's voice nearly cracked. _Oh Gaia, they're going to kick me out and I'll have to go back home and ma and dad'll be so freaking pissed and they'll probably ground me for eternity and I'll never be able to have children because I won't be able to leave my house and please, oh please, dude with the hair who is standing next to this big scary guy who's talking to me, save me, save me, savemesavemesaveme..._

"I'd call it a puppy," the man stated, bringing both of his hands down to his sides. "A puppy. You understand me..."

"Fair," Zack said a bit breathlessly, "Zack Fair, Sir."

"Fair. You are a puppy, but at least you didn't piss yourself."

Zack sighed as the SOLDIER backed up. "I am Commander Angeal Hewley. I am not your friend, not your superior, but your mentor. If you do what I say, you shouldn't die, but I can not promise all of you the same. Understood, Fair?"

The man next to him was now in full sight, and I looked over to him. There was a faint, almost fleeting, smile on his lips, and it looked like it didn't belong. The man was staring at Zack, but there was no bitterness or contempt. There was just... something unrecognizable.

"_The end of the world is brought by the duel of the beasts. The Goddess shall fall from the darkest sky. Spreading her wings of light and darkness, she shall lead us to our paradise, along with her gift._"

"Loveless?"

"Yes, Fair—puppy. This is Genesis Rhapsodos. I—" Commander Hewley was cut off by Genesis, who took a step closer and smirked, placing his hand to the cadet's confused face, tossing back a lock of Zack's ebony hair.

"Yes, puppy. Loveless."

* * *

**That was the first day that Zack was in Shinra—weird, yes. I probably would have ran for the hills. I don't have a clue where the nickname 'puppy' came from, so I made up my own version of it. **

**Please Review!**


	39. Walk in Line

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun—the end.

* * *

Chapter Forty Two: Walk in Line

Zack and Cloud sat in the bar for about an hour, just sitting. They spoke in soft voices so that they didn't attract too much attention, even though Zack had to shell out a few twenties to the bartender so that they could continue to sit there. The balding man with the red vest didn't look pleased, but kept bringing sodas over to the table, while the two were still sipping on their first drink. While it was bothersome, Cloud had thought it would have been safer to wait until the parade started, where they could easily enough slip between the crowds without attracting attention.

Good idea or no, Zack was getting a little tired of the bar. The smoke never seemed to clear, and the whiskey scent got stronger and stronger each time that the bartender walked by. While Zack was the furthest thing from an alcoholic, each time that the heavy-set man came shoving sweet cola down their throats, the ex-SOLDIER wanted to ask the guy for nothing more than a tumbler of whiskey and a cigarette. Yet Zack didn't.

Why, though, he wasn't exactly sure. Cloud probably wouldn't have minded all that much, considering the fact that Zack had seen him wasted more times over the past few weeks than he had ever seen before. Cloud had even said that Zack could have a drink, because they were probably going to be waiting for another long stretch of time.

"Then why don't you have one with me, hot-stuff?" Zack asked when Cloud had made the offhand comment.

"Because I don't want to get drunk before I go on a boat. My stomach is already churning at the thought." Cloud took a ginger sip of his soda and shivered. Zack was sure that it was less about the temperature of the drink and more of the fact that in a few, all too quick hours, the blonde would be stuck on a ship for a long stretch of time. "How long do you think we'll be on it, anyway?"

Zack scratched his nose. "No clue. When I came over it took about two days, but that was because we decided to park over near Midgar. I'd think that it'd take about sixteen hours, tops?"

The answer made Cloud groan and snap his head against the table. Glasses jingled in frustration, showing the blonde's fury.

"Could be worse. You could have been sick on my trip. God, I'd woulda probably killed you."

He replied to Zack's comment with another head bang and a groan. "Ugh, damn."

"Then don't do that," the violet-eyed man chided, watching with enthusiasm. His mouth twitched when Cloud began slamming his head a little harder. "You don't like paying attention, do ya? Well, come on." Zack stood and pulled up Cloud by the back of his uniform, tearing him from another bout of 'Smack the Blondie Against the Table'.

"Where're we going?" Cloud asked as he roughly extracted himself from Zack. He smoothed out his uniform, almost as if he hadn't been, moments before, smacking himself around. His voice was a little breathless, however.

Zack sat the smaller body back down, noticing that he had caused a brief stir from the few guests who had thought their drinking had escalated to a bar fight. Zack assured them with a quick "He forgot about work!" before pushing Cloud further into the seat and sliding himself in. "Oh, come of, Cloud—it's not gunna be all that bad—"

He was cut off by the blonde, who shoved his visor up. "I don't have a clue why I came up with this idea—"

"Because you're smart...?"

"No." Cloud waved his gloved hand around for a moment. He sucked in a breath between his teeth, the static-like sound reverberating from behind his helmet. "Why am I even bothering?"

Zack's heart caught in his throat. _He doesn't know why he wants to go after Sephiroth. No wonder—he doesn't know why he keeps on pushing forward. I'm with him because he needs me. Everyone is following him and me because they want to save people, but I care less about the random people. Damn, I'm a terrible person. I just want to protect Cloud, and everything after that ranks in second place. I'm not a hero anymore, am I?_

"You're bothering because you're Cloud," Zack explained slowly, the words odd on his tongue, considering the thoughts in his mind were rebelling against them. "You an' me, we're gunna be heroes. Sephiroth wants to take over the world—"

Cloud cut him off. "No, I don't mean that. What I mean is," he struggled for the words, and Zack knew exactly how he felt. Their mouths were dry and unresponsive. Everything refused to come out right, and Zack just wanted to understand _why_.

"What do you mean, Cloud?"

"I feel..." Cloud started strong, the rest coming out in a whisper. "I feel like I'm a marionette with a child playing puppet with my strings."

* * *

Cloud could scare Zack. It didn't happen often, but when it happens, Zack feels his stomach curl and his mouth dry. The blonde boy neither jumped out from behind something nor screamed 'Boo!' at the top of his lungs, but actually terrified the living shit out of him. There were moments like in Aeris's flower garden and kitchen table, where Cloud was dying in his arms and before his very eyes. There was the seconds that ticked by, Zack waiting, not sure of what he should do, where Corneo was touching Cloud, and Cloud fighting back. There was the time where Cloud's blood was spread across the glass, a scene of death if Zack had ever seen one. There was his vomiting of tar. There was the crying. There was the screaming.

There was something there that terrified Zack and he didn't know how to get rid of it. At the moment, there was something about the look on Cloud's face that made Zack fearful. It was a clandestine fear, hidden below nerves of steel, but it was there, shining like the glint of a knife that was already plunged into its victim's heart.

It was as if Cloud had read into his very soul, like he had the eyes of a god or psychic, and was able to see every thought and trace of fear, every moment of anger and every twitch of sadness. Maybe Cloud was just good at seeing people and their feelings and emotions, but Zack knew at that moment, in the _Shinra Outpost_ that Cloud actually exposed both of their greatest fears—neither seemed to know what to do.

He was arrogant and cocky, sure, but that didn't automatically mean that Zack knew exactly what to do every moment of his existence. He tried hard, but he was bound to irrevocably screw things up. That, added in with the fact that whatever he did would manage to smash into Cloud, like the butterfly who flapped his wings.

Chaos Theory.

That was what they were doing—whatever Zack did affected Cloud, and whatever Cloud did would be bound to affect Zack. It was a a jumble of confusion and anger and tears, or that was the road it was bound for.

Cloud didn't know why, and Zack didn't know wither. They just both continued to walk the line bordering understanding and confusion.

Zack wasn't sure which one would step over first.

* * *

"So, we just need to head over there, right?"

If it was possible for Zack to see Cloud's eyes, he would imagine that they would have been rolling. The boy, after taking a moment to compose himself (Zack pretending not to see Cloud slip his hand inside of his visor and rub at his eyes—not like he would actually admit to it in any case), got back up and headed toward Junon, back outside to where there was bound to be people. The parade was supposed to start soon, he had said quickly as the two attempted to blur into the crowd of civilians.

"Uh huh, Zack. That's all we need to do. Get to the dock, and everything'll be peachy." Doused in saccharine, the violet-eyed man knew that if Cloud's words had been poison, he would have fallen into the middle of the street. His words were like swallowing a peach...that was iced in malice and sugar, a combination that made Zack's tongue feel on edge.

Zack cursed when a woman pushed past him, sending the ex-SOLDIER trampling into a few stalls that were selling knick-knacks. The man behind the little road-side store glared and pushed him back into the crowd, but by then Cloud was gone.

Panicking would do absolutely no good. There were a lot of people, nearly fifty thousand, easily, on the streets of Junon, waiting for the parade to begin, and per fifty thousand civilians there was bound to be at least five thousand grunts that were wearing the same exact things Cloud and he were clothed in.

"Shit," Zack swore before pulling out his PHS. They were handy little things, but the problems with PHS's, along with the more widely used cell phone, was the fact that unless you had a certain number, there was no way to call from inside of Junon. That was something Junon prided itself in; there was no phone call that ever went untraced or unrecorded. Everything else just—

"Aw, fuck!" he swore again, flipping the PHS closed and shoving it back into his pocket. Now, with Cloud's trademark hair shoved inside of a helmet and no possible way of contacting anyone, let alone the spiky-headed mako-eyed boy, it became a game of chance to find him. Zack knew where he needed to go, as did Cloud, but what if the boat suddenly left early, and one of them was stuck in Junon alone? Junon was a dangerous place on its own, but added with the fact that their faces were almost as well-known as their hair, an Avalanche member wouldn't survive on their own inside of the city for more than a few days. Alone and unable to get somewhere safe, Zack estimated that anyone from their rag-tag team would be disposed of or captured within twenty-four hours, except for perhaps Cloud and himself, who would probably last a few more hours, tops.

Too many people in one place at the same time. Zack wished that he could have, somehow, knocked down every person that wasn't wearing a Shinra uniform, but luck tended to dislike him. As he wrestled through the masses of colorful balloons and screaming children, the music picked up an became even more loud. Television announcers screamed out their news of the parade beginning.

"Oomph!"

Zack tripped over a body in the middle of the pathway, knocking both himself and the other person with blonde hair into the middle of the street. It was amazing how quickly the people had moved out of the way, just in time to make sure that Zack and the unknown civilian rolled.

Life surely hated Zack.

Fate seemed to hate him more, the ex-SOLDIER noticed almost immediately when one of the nearby Commanders grabbed hold of the scruff of the other person's uniform (Zack had not noticed it, and had mistaken them for normal attire because the helmet had been taken off). Cloud dangled in the Commander's grasp, and Zack winced. _Oh damn. This is not going to be pretty. _

"Why do you not have your helmet on, cadet?" the military man snarled, his face turning a hue only one who had been in the Shinra Army could. Zack stayed on the ground, unsure of what he was supposed to do. Cloud had dealt with douches like this in the past, so it wasn't completely uncommon, but what would the Commander do? Cloud's face was well-known in Midgar—would it be as well-known as Junon? It wasn't even like the man would _need_ to know Cloud's face. All he needed was to know that an Avalanche member had suspiciously spiky blonde hair and didn't look to be older than sixteen, and that his eyes glowed with mako.

Grunts eyes didn't shine with mako.

"Cadet, are you ignoring me? I said, what are you doing without your helmet on? Damn it—come with me—you're the little sneak that ran off; I'll be telling your own commanding officer exactly what you have done, and _fuck!_" the man in red yelled as he blew his whistle into Cloud's face.

Zack watched as the Commander dropped Cloud back to the earth, and the boy shoved his helmet back on in haste. "You—" the man looked over to Zack, who had yet to move from the middle of the street, where he was gaining a bit of attention from both the public and the SOLDIERs that were passing by in the middle of the street, their weapons shining almost as bright as their eyes. "You, go back to the compound. Understood? I'll deal with this kid. Now, that's an order!"

Not sure of what to do, Zack stood up, and attempted to send Cloud a message as he snapped his hand into a salute. There was no way it would be possible for Zack to grab Cloud and run, or knock the Commander out, because now the public (or at least the people next to Zack had) had seen Cloud's face, and could easily point out the fact that Cloud was in the area. That was the last thing needed—they would all be caught.

"Sir, yes Sir," he answered, but the words he wanted to convey were something akin to "_Fuck you and how the fuck am I supposed to do this now?_"

* * *

Rather than doing what he was supposed to do, or was ordered, Zack took off down the streets in the opposite direction. Cloud was stuck in the parade, and while it was completely and totally laugh-worthy, it was too easy for Zack to lose the guy. Life tended to throw those types of balls at him, and really, the last thing needed was not to be able to find Cloud, especially when he had just refound him.

_Well, I didn't exactly **find **him, per say. I just kinda bumped into him and then created a whole lot of no good shit that I'm now going to have to deal with. Ugh. _

So, Zack scuttled down the street at the same pace as the moving parade, keeping his head down. Not many seemed to notice or care that Zack would walk by, because they were too absorbed in the parade, with military men and guns shooting into the air and magic cast just to create pretty colors in the smoggy sky. The black clouds seemed to glow with the colors of the magic—bright greens of the materia playing peek-a-boo with the reds of the commander's outfits and the blue mako of the SOLDIER's eyes.

Zack hated these types of things. Once, when he was a SOLDIER, they were times of fun and moments of peace, but now... now the acts of Shinra were nothing but the same. The parades, the screaming children; they were just a ploy used for gains. Not many would scream and bitch and complain when there was a sudden hike in mako costs, because they thought the Shinra Company was protecting them, while the only things Rufus cared about was himself.

It was sad that the newest Shinra heir was more cold-blooded than his father. Zack once, so long ago that now it was but a memory shrouded behind the tube of mako that he was trapped in for years, thought that Shinra actually cared for its people, that the Company, while holding some unorthodox beliefs, was really good. He had kept this belief for so long, but now it was gone. Far away, never to return.

Shinra was evil and Rufus with it.

Many things with Shinra were evil.

But how about all those who he had befriended? Were they evil because of their continuous contact with Shinra? Their unwavering loyalty a curse? These things swam inside of Zack's mind, never fading from sight.

Barely avoiding another stand, Zack slipped between a newly married couple (they were wearing ridiculous matching hats that had the words 'newlyweds' embroidered on the bills) earning himself a few more glares. The march sped up a little bit as they came closer to the destination. The commentators were talking through an assortment of loudspeakers and the raven-haired man snorted as he passed by one that was on full volume.

"And do you see that cadet in the front row? What in Gaia is he doing? The pee-pee dance with his gun?"

"Yes, Bob, I see that! Crowd, look at that cadet—it seems as if he is doing something out of a horror movie. The gun seems to be possessed and it had taken on a life of its own!" The man snorted into his microphone, causing many people to cover their ears from the feedback.

"Well, I'd give him, out of a hundred percent, an eight for trying."

_Could you really have brought any more attention to yourself, Cloud? Really..._

"That's better than what I would have given him—I'd say a two."

* * *

By the time the crowds had settled down and Zack was able to get through to the end, the group Cloud had been a part of was already dismissed. There were a few people nearby who were talking about 'That dumb-ass who kept screwing up and got whacked by Heidegger'. It was, by better chances, Cloud. It wasn't a warm or tender feeling, but at least Heidegger hadn't gotten more heavy-handed. There had been times in SOLDIER where the rumors would circulate about how Heidegger had murdered yet another grunt. They covered it up well, to say the least.

But now the problem was _finding_ the mako blue-eyed boy. And that, Zack mused as he walked to the compound, where he figured the Commander would have dragged him off to once the fat old man was finished smacking him around (_That fat pig. If I see him again I'll make sure to cut off his shlong and make him swallow it. How dare he? How __**dare **__he?_).

Zack wouldn't deny it; he was pissed. Everything almost always had to be thrown at Cloud, and the poor kid just had to swallow it and suck it up. Sometimes Zack wondered what Cloud would be like if his life had been different. Maybe he'd be happier, but he wouldn't be Cloud anymore. Just a man that held a semblance to the Cloud he knew.

But Cloud had walked in line that day, the day Shinra showed up and recruited him into their army.

Cloud had done it, and so had he.

* * *

**This chapter makes me want to puke with boredom. Thank Minerva it's done. Now, I'm going to go lay down and pretend like this chapter doesn't exist. **

**Please Review! **


	40. Archfiend

Disclaimer: I, Strange and intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Forty Three: Archfiend

Surprisingly, it was not Cloud who Zack had found first after searching for nearly an hour, but instead it was Barret.

Not like he could have missed the large hulking mass of white. The man looked like a marshmallow. Never had Zack thought that the man could possibly stand out quite as much as Barret did at that very moment. If there was even one person who had known Barret's face from the various fliers and television specials, the black man would have already been shot down. Well... they would have tried to shoot the burly man, but Zack was nearly sure that they would merely bounce off and fall to the floor with a plink.

"Yo'," the man yelled, and when Zack turned his head, Barret yelled it again. "Yo', Spiky!"

"Could you be any louder?" Zack hissed as he turned his head back around, pointing toward a nearby light post. "They record this, you know."

Barret turned his head and looked over at the top of the light, where a small video camera resided. The small red button bleeped a bit brighter as the lens swung around to where the two were now standing. It grew closer and Zack took a step back and grabbed hold of Barret's arm and pulled him away and turned him around so the camera would not catch any more of their faces.

"Why they do tha'?" Barret questioned as he attempted to turn his head around.

"To prevent this." Zack snapped the man's arm and the man grumbled loudly. "Don't turn around and look at it, you big doof," he snarled as they continued down the street. "They already have your big face because you stared _directly_ at it. Didn't your mama teach you not to look at things that can record your face when you become and adult eco-terrorist?"

Most of the street was littered with poppers that the citizens had let off, sending colorful streamers into the air when the SOLDIERs had used their materia to light up the sky. Half-eaten foods and bottles of various sodas littered the walkways and the few stragglers that were left were buying even more souvenirs to pacify their screaming children. The sun was high and the sky, and even with the black smog, the city was heating up at a dramatical level.

"Where are we goin'?"

"You know where everyone else is, right?"

Barret gave a gruff snarl. "Yeah, Spiky. I ain't no moron; left 'em ova' by the ship. Red's sittin' on da storage while everyon' else's movin' stuff so they don' get caught. I told 'em what ta do cuz' you weren't there. Lef' mah phone wit' 'em, too. And where's Chocobo-head? Ya lost his whi' ass?"

Discreetly, Zack maneuvered the larger man and himself into the nearest residential building. The man at the counter of the inn gave a disgruntled look.

"Look, boys, while I don't all care 'bout your sex lives, you've gotta go work down by the docks," the man crossed his hands over a magazine splashed with coffee. "The Shinra Manager's sleepin' upstairs, and it wouldn't be the smartest thing to be goin' and getting frisky up there."

Barret made an awful face and Zack pulled off his mask. "Ugh," the ebony-haired man shivered with disgust. "Don't make me puke in my mouth," Zack stated exaggeratedly as he bent over to the nearest trashcan and spit into it.

"Come on, Bubba, let's get outta here before this old guy thinks we're getting into some shenanigans in his hotel." The ex-SOLDIER wiped his mouth dramatically with the hand that still clutched his mask. "Thanks buddy."

"Wha' wuz the poin' in that?" Barret grumbled as the two left, and Zack took a moment to smirk as he lifted the hand that still held his mask. A small PHS was clutched between the mask. "Oh shi'!"

Nodding his head, Zack snapped the phone open. "Ours don't work in the city," Zack explained again, "so I just, um, _borrowed_, this guy's phone. Probably won't mind too much. If Tifa's at the dock, fuck, if anyone's at the dock, they should be able to get my call. We're still in the city, they're on the outskirts."

He punched in the sixteen numbers and extension to Tifa's phone, listening to the humming of 'Duh da dum da duh dum!' repeatedly until the woman picked up after the seventh ring, he voice low.

"Hello?" Tifa asked, her voice uncommonly quiet.

"Tifa? Zack here—we'll be to the docks soon. You seen anything of Cloud? Kinda lost him about an hour ago. He got dragged off somewhere and I couldn't get him."

The line seemed to go dead. There was only the faint sound of a breath. "Hmm? Tifa? You alive?"

"Zack... Cloud's here. I know where he is."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Zack signaled to Barret a thumbs up. "That's good. Tell him we'll be there in a little while, could ya?"

"That isn't possible, Zack."

"And why...?"

Tifa took in another deep breath. "Well..." her voice trailed off. "You see, Tseng was looking at the grunts and he...found Cloud."

Zack sucked in a quick breath as he nearly lost the phone. The finger that was once pointing up in happiness was now lowered to the ground.

Tifa continued on, "They locked him up in the brig of the ship. I wasn't able to get close enough to hear what was going on, but they were talking about how Hojo wanted him, and that they were going to use Cloud as some sort of bargaining chip to get him to come back to Shinra."

"So Cloud's in Shinra custody?"

He didn't need an answer, but one came anyway. "Yes, Cloud's in Shinra custody. Rufus looks smug, and I want to hit him but I can't. We have to get on that ship now more than ever. You get that, Zack?"

There was a dim light shining from the sky through the clouds. "Yeah, Tifa, I understand. Everyone else is there, right? No one else has gone missing—and I've got Barret here."

"Everyone else is accounted for."

Zack smiled grimly, already feeling his stomach twist and curl into a monster. "Good," was his quick goodbye before he smashed the phone to pieces in his palm. The scattered plastic lay broken in his fingers, like a sieve taking away everything he did not need.

Barret was asking what was going on, and Zack told him.

There wasn't much else he could do but tell the man. It wasn't up to Barret, however, to take care of it.

"And you sai' you was jus' _borrowin_' it."

"Well." Zack walked a little faster toward the docks, hoping for Tseng to be struck dead or eaten alive by a pack of hungry dogs, either of which would have been perfect enough to make the violet-eyed man drop to the ground and thank any and every god or goddess in the universe. As it was, however, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. He needed to come up with a plan quick. It wasn't going to be easy to get into a position where Zack could get Cloud out, but it was his own damn fault.

* * *

The two walked quickly down the streets of Junon, Barret trailing far after Zack, who was the only person between the two that knew absolutely anything about the sister city of Midgar. Normally, if the occasion was anything but what it was at that moment, Zack would have taken his time, walked slower, looking at the town. But Cloud was kidnapped.

_Fuck! How in the Planet was he caught? Definitely wouldn't have taken off his helmet again, and he looked exactly like all of the other grunts—I made sure of that when he put it on. Was he too chunky with all of his layers? Naw; there were bigger people when I was a grunt. Was it his hair? When he shoved his helmet on for the parade, did they catch a glimpse of his fucking head? _

_No,_ Zack thought as he stopped, feet unmoving. Barret had finally caught up and knocked his shoulder into the ex-SOLDIER's, prodding him to move.

"What's you doin'?" he questioned, making another jab with his gun arm that was hidden below the sleeve of his sailor uniform.

"They caught him because of that damn parade," Zack seethed, kicking a plastic can. It sailed through the air at an unremarkable speed and disappeared a few hundred meters away. "He fucked up an—"

Barret let out a barking laugh. "You sayin' _tha_' wuz Chocobo-head? Shrimp tha' was getting' in everybody's way? Kep' fuckin' up!" The laughter was raucous; it aggravated Zack to no end.

"_Yeah_," the black-haired man snapped, begging to trudge forward once again. Barret was still a few feet behind him, laughing his head off. "Glad you find this so funny!"

"I ain't even know whutz' goin' on!" the older one shot back. "I jus' know what you'z sai'."

Zack turned back around, hate and disgust, none of it aimed at Barret, burning in his eyes. "The fucker's have Cloud—how's that for amusing?"

Barret's mouth seemed to open in ill-hidden shock. "You ain't kiddin', righ'?"

Shaking his head, Zack continued, "They got him on that fucking ship," before turning back around and if anything walking faster.

Surprisingly, Barret was able to keep his stride.

* * *

The docks were cold. Not just temperature-wise, but the aura around the place was cold. It seemed as if one of the SOLDIERs had used too much magic, an ice spell from the feeling in the air, and it had completely frozen the decks and the very world. The only reason Zack was sure that time hadn't frozen itself was because of the silent work of the grunts and sailors on the decks, loading the ship.

Shoving his head and all of his hair back into the helmet, a mask from the real world into something that was fake, polyester lives and plastic perfection.

"You ain't look right wit' tha' on." Barret pulled on his sailor uniform, making sure his entire arm was covered, then fixing the thin white hat.

"And you look like a marshmallow," Zack stated monotonously.

Barret gave no answer. "Well, there's Red. He ain't lookin' too goo' wit' his tail shoved in dat' uniform."

Zack looked over to where the middle-aged man was pointing, seeing a few sparse red hairs clinging to the outside of the uniform, the person, or animal-thing inside, wobbling around worse than an inebriated chimpanzee. There was a moment where Zack wanted to laugh, because there was no other good option, but he remained ever-so silent. Instead he answered with a quick, "You're right," before seeing the others lifting objects into the cargo area.

One of the girls, apparent from their stomachs compared to their chest area's, was lifting three heavy boxes.

"Tifa," Zack said quickly to Barret, who nodded appreciatively.

"She's strong," Barret quipped.

"Whatever." Zack normally would have been a little less brisk, but he could already see the worry in Tifa's movements. She was acting as though Gaia's weight had been planted on top of her shoulders and was holding her down, weighting her to her place. He felt the same, Zack knew, but he wasn't going to show it more than necessary.

When Zack and Barret came into their view, Aeris came forward with one box in her hands. Yuffie was sitting on a few cartons and Tifa was too busy loading the ship with every movement heavy on her.

"They took Cloud in there already," Aeris explained as she pushed the box into Barret's arms. "They caught him when the Commander forced him to take of his mask for Tseng. Rufus told them to put him on the ship, and that he was going to be interrogated later on today."

Zack listened carefully. "What do you mean _they_?"

Aeris looked down and mumbled. "Reno, Jessie and Tseng."

_Fuck. That's how they got him. Bastard was drunk and still noticed us in there?_ There was nothing more that Zack wanted then to strangle to red-head and toss his body over the side of the city and into the ocean. Bastard didn't deserve any more than that.

A cold as ice moment passed between the two and Aeris's helmet went down and her voice changed. "There wasn't even time to do anything. One minute everything was fine and we just figured that an insubordinate boy had done something silly; even though I hated watching, I just figured Heidegger would hit him a few times and be done with it, but Zack," her voice seemed to break. "He looked like he was scared, and that's not something that happens often and you and I know this."

"Can't blame 'im for bein' scared," Barret explained as he awkwardly shifted the box in his hand and gunarm. "But we gotta get on dat' boa' so we can go an' get 'em back. Righ', leada'?"

Zack turned his head and flipped the visor up, allowing the two to see his purple eyes. "You just said that I was leader, right?" Zack clucked his tongue before nodding and snapping it back down. "Alright, let's go get him. But not until the boat gets close enough to Costa del Sol that we can jump ship if we have to. And no, Barret, I don't care if you can swim or not. We'll strap a floaty to you, or a handful of them if we have to."

There was no reply but a huff and a near smack with the box. Aeris gave a half-hearted giggle, however, and Zack tried to smile at his own joke. It did not happen, and so Zack shrugged and continued off to the boat, grabbing a few boxes on the way.

* * *

A few minutes later the entire gang was safe and secured on the boat. Everyone had gone in their own direction, and for a few hours Zack had stayed above deck, listening for the slightest whisper of the time or where they were. In the middle of the trip, around four and a half hours or so on sea, Zack headed below deck, narrowly avoiding stepping on the teenager ninja.

Zack had watched Yuffie, surprisingly silent, push herself down in the cargo area with her head between her legs, a soft whimpering coming from her lips a few minutes after they had boarded the ship. Zack hadn't bothered to ask what was wrong. He knew better than anyone, with being friends with Cloud, exactly what was going on.

"What's wrong with Yuffie?" Aeris asked as she scurried around, marking boxes with a deep blue maker.

Zack pushed himself up onto one of the boxes, swinging his legs irritably. "Motion sickness," Zack stated shortly.

The green-eyed woman nodded sagely. "Well, if she wants, I could help her with it," Aeris explained as she drew a three on the side of another box. "I could give her one of my tranquilizers to make her feel better."

"I guess you should go offer it to her then."

Aeris stopped and stood straight up, pulling up the visor to her helmet so she could have Zack look into her eyes. He obeyed, snapping his own. "You're sad," she said, her green eyes connecting with Zack's. There was sadness inside of her emerald orbs, and Zack felt as if she was dealing with far more than Zack could even imagine.

"You are too," he pointed out.

"I'm worried about Cloud, yes." Aeris snapped the top to her marker and slid onto the nearest box, eyes never leaving Zack's. "But I know he'll be fine. Knowing Cloud, he's probably trying to figure out a way out by himself. Thankfully Hojo is nowhere near this boat, and so you don't have to worry about him experimenting, like Tifa had told me about when you found him in the Shinra Building."

"So you know about that, eh?"

Another nod. "Tifa was worried," she explained, carefully choosing her words, the ex-SOLDIER noticed with a mild hint of confusion. "We all were, and so were you."

"I was," he admitted, shaking his head a little bit. The inside of his helmet became fuzzy and a little too warm. "But so was everyone else, like you've already said."

Aeris looked down. "But no one was more worried than you, right?"

"Couldn't say. I'm not a mind-reader, hun."

Without any warning Aeris lifted her hand. There was something in her eyes, a small tear that refused to escape. "Zackary, there's been something I've been wanting to ask you, but I haven't been able to form the words. It's difficult, and I just keep fighting with myself on whether I should ask you or not." She took a deep breath in. "Zackary, I..."

"You know what, Aeris." Zack stood up backing away slowly from the woman and her tears. Something was growing inside of him, a fear so deep that he refused to listen to his mind, that was screaming for him to listen. "This really isn't the best time."

"Coward," she whispered under her breath, sniffling. "I love you, but you're a coward."

_Coward. Hadn't someone else called me a coward, long ago?_

"I would be calling myself a coward too, but right now I just... can't. You understand, right?"

_I don't even understand myself. What is this? Is she angry at me? I haven't been paying enough attention to her, but it's so hard to do that when we're fighting against the world, Sephiroth. I want to protect this world, sure, and I love Aeris, but what else have I been doing wrong...? I've been a horrible boyfriend, haven't I? Just screwing up over and over. I'm making those I care for suffer because of my mistakes. Cloud is..._

"I think I'm going to go find Barret, alright?" Zack nearly tripped over Yuffie as he bolted back upstairs, his head swimming. What about Cloud? What about Aeris? What about Tifa? What about Sephiroth and the world and Reno and _everything_?

_Oh Holy, I'm losing my mind_, Zack thought as he snapped the visor down, smelling the salt from the ocean invade his clothing, his very being. What was Aeris planning on saying to him? Was there going to be a moment where she would whisper goodbye? What was he going to do then?

"I'd probably fall over and die," Zack muttered as he headed toward where Barret had once been. Red was an interesting beast, surely, but the red-haired thing was too close to Tifa, and the black-haired man couldn't deal with _her_ right at that moment.

"Barret?" Zack questioned. The man turned around from his place on the floor and narrowed his black eyes.

"Wha'?"

"Am I a coward?"

"How da ya thin' I know? Go fuckin' ask Tifa or Red. I'm a tryin' ta listen in of dis convo', an' unless you wanna, join, get da fuck outta here. An' crouch if you're gunna stay 'round."

Zack crouched down. No further words were exchanged between the two, but somehow Barret was acting like a buffer between Cloud and Aeris and himself.

Only a little, however.

_Is it possible..._ Zack wondered as he continued to listen on to Rufus and Heidegger's banter, _...that I'm not in love with Aeris? _

Could it be?

_And could I be in love with someone else?_

* * *

**Is he coming around? What is happening to Cloud? Will everything come together in the end? Eh. I liked this chapter quite a bit more than the last one, and finally things are starting to go my way with this story. Took long enough. And next chapter, expect to see some Cloud, some Sephiroth, some Jenova and more mental-angsting by out dear and loving Zack. Oh, and maybe a bit of Turk action? That would be sweet. If anything confuses you, please point it out, alright?**

**Please Review! **


	41. Specter of Life

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Forty Four: The Specter of Life

The bells started going off inside of Zack's head the moment he heard the conversation going on inside of the President's room. The captain of the ship sat in the corner, nursing a cup of hot tea that was more than likely spiked with something much harder, while Rufus and Heidegger continued to speak. The words were at first jostled. Zack thought it was because of all the things going on in his own mind at that very moment, and he was not far off. Every nerve was up in his brain, sending out things that would otherwise have not bothered him. His toes itched. Inside of his standard grunt gloves his fingers were sweaty. The air inside of his helmet was hot and muggy from his breath.

It was hard to concentrate, at first, until the strawberry-haired president said something that quite... disturbed Zack.

"Heidegger, I am aware that we have a few _guests_ on board that should not be." Zack narrowed his eyes and took a closer look into the window. Rufus looked colorless, wraith-like. There was a fresh cup of tea in one hand, a bourbon bottle not too far away. It looked as if he had been sharing the bottle with the captain. The Shinra heir continued, "And it is not looking that well for you."

The pompous fat bastard answered, perplexed. "Oh, why would it look bad for me, Mister President, sir?"

"You know why," Rufus remarked shallowly, taking another sip of his drink. Zack wondered if the bourbon was bitter from the sneer that crossed the man's face. "I am not my old man; I do not accept failure from those I deem inferior." Rufus snapped his eyes from the mahogany liquid in his cup to his subordinate. "Which is you, Heidegger. You failed me, like the thousand times you failed my father. I will _not_ tolerate it."

Heidegger's face was turning a nasty purplish hue. Zack remembered how many times, as a First-Class SOLDIER, he had to look at that face and endure smacks and punches and all around _shit_ from the bastard. How many times had Zack or other SOLDIER's been blamed for Heidegger's failures and blunders the black-haired man wasn't sure, but damn if it wasn't pleasing to see his old boss get what he deserved.

But it meant that Rufus was fully aware that there were stowaways on board that weren't supposed to be. Dangerous stowaways at that. _Huh, this might be good in the long run._ Zack thought, but what he really was looking for was something more important than Heidegger's failures. He needed information on Cloud.

"So, why is it that the brat you had thrown in the brig wasn't simply executed?" The man seemed to take the words from Zack's skull and planted the seeds of a possible explanation to what the hell was going on. "The boy Tseng caught from shore—the Avalanche member."

Rufus gave a leering look at the captain, who stood up and excused himself into the next room. He placed his cup of the table before skittering out.

"Heidegger..." Rufus took a sip of his tea, letting the words hang in the air. "I understand that your part in this company is large; you control the Turks to extent, however. Should I so desire, that can easily be changed. They are under my command first and foremost, and though you might be their head, I far surpass you. So when I inquired of a certain file, the Turks were bound to hand it over." A smirk passed over the president's face. "You do understand what I am talking about?"

The other man looked nervous, sweaty; a pig readying for the slaughter, or so Zack would have imagined. "Yes sir, I understand what you speak of."

"Oh, _good._" Rufus rolled the word on his tongue, and Zack never heard such poisonous words from the man's mouth. The strawberry-blonde stood. "Now, do you understand the reason he is on this ship?"

_What the hell? File? Cloud? What is the importance of that?_

There were no words from Heidegger for a moment before the man egotistically slapped his hand to the table. "Mister President, please do not tell me you believe those files. They are pointless bits of flim-flam that your father spent much money and time on. If anything presented in that file was true, well—"

"Tseng seemed to think otherwise," Rufus snapped, tossing his cup angrily at the door, where it shattered. The ceramic shards and brown liquid seemed to say something to the President, who turned and smiled grimly.

"But he is Wutaian, a spiritualist, a man who believes less in science and more in a Goddess that only wrote a poorly-written poem!" Heidegger really wasn't being a smart man about this, Zack knew. Barret mumbled something about all of the Shinra men having a few screws loose.

What happened next was something which surprised Zack—honestly surprised him. There was a moment of tense silence before the lights blinked out and a bullet shattered Heidegger's skull. Blood splattered against the white walls and the window, Zack ducking his head down low, a squeamish sensation rippling through his stomach. Everything was happening in quick succession; the lights that had been somehow turned off became red and a warning blare shouted from every direction. There was blood of Rufus's face, Zack noticed when he glanced back into the room, through the gore covering the window like frost.

"_Warning—suspicious beings found on board. Please do not attempt to apprehend suspects, as they will be armed and dangerous. Warning—suspicious..._" Zack drowned out the wailing of the siren and jumped up, pulling Barret's arm.

"He jus' sho' a man." Barret had seen death and so had Zack, but this, _that_, was not something Zack ever expected to see. "Prez's more fucked up than his Ol' Man. He jus' sho' a man."

Zack shook his head and pulled harder. "You knew he was a fucked up man, but we need to find everyone. One of them could've gotten caught."

_He just fucking pulled out a shotgun from his coat and shot. My Gaia, we're not just dealing with a President of a corporation that wants to kill us, but a fucking madman who would pull the trigger himself. _Zack knew now that there was something going on, something he didn't want to be a part of, at all if possible. What exactly it was the ex-SOLDIER did not know, and he did not want to know, but it had something to do with Tseng and Cloud.

There was something very wrong in the air, and it wasn't just the smell of gunpowder, blood and death.

There was a hole in Heidegger's shirt.

* * *

"Barret, go down into the cargo area and get Aeris and Yuffie. Aeris'll be marking shit and the only one not running around, and Yuffie'll be yacking her head off. They aren't too hard to miss," Zack ordered as he pointed to the stairs that led down. "I need to find Tifa and Red, who've probably gotten lost in this swarm of people." Zack nearly fell face-first as another sailor whizzed by and knocked into his shoulder. The night was coming, the darkness of sea heading toward them. The red lights shining brightly were like beacons.

Barret didn't say anything, but Zack hadn't expected him to. Once the larger man was gone from his sight the ex-SOLDIER took off to where the two had been, even though it was nearly guaranteed that they would no longer be there. It was worth a shot.

He first found Red because of his odd walk in the Shinra suit, and Zack gave a small signal for the beast to come to where he was. Red had caught on quickly and in the haze of red and battle he was able to slip to where Zack was unnoticed.

"You doin' okay?" Zack huffed as he pulled the beast by the paw. The boxes they took shelter near weren't exactly the best place to hide, but it did so without making them too suspicious. "You've seen Tifa?" he asked hoarsely, pulling his visor up.

"I have not seen any person but you," Red stated. He got off his hind legs and down on all four paws. "But if you would, please take my tail out of this pant leg. I think it's been broken." Red gave a shake to his leg.

Zack got to his knees and helped the beast's tail from the pant leg. "There ya go, buddy. But I've got to go find Tifa—Barret's getting the others."

"Do you know where Cloud is?" Red asked as he settled himself between two boxes to hide himself.

"No," Zack stated, patting Red twice before standing back up and heading off, snapping his visor down. "And you're not the only one who's hating this uniform," Zack mumbled under his breath. He was sure that Red had not caught it.

Turning the corner, Zack narrowly avoided another group of running and panicking sailors and grunts. Most of them were heading toward the cargo room or the cabins that, until recently, had white walls. They didn't any longer. The black-haired man wondered silently if anyone would notice that their perfectly cruel president stunk of gunpowder and blood. His sneer probably was still etched into the Heidegger-stained walls.

_Not like the pig was worth being upset over... but why? Is Rufus just that insane that killing the guy on a ship of all things would not be noticed. And there wasn't any time to call the... _Zack trailed off. _Oh, I should've known._

Everything was playing out too well—catching an Avalanche suspect, the red lights, the gun and the dead man. Rufus wanted to play hard, and was willing to pull out all stops. He was now not just marking Zack and the others with being terrorists, but also cold-hearted assassins and murderers that had no problem shooting a man of high ranking. This was something someone had once made happen to a certain Wutaian General long ago, before his name was even on a list of grunts. Long before his time in Wutai and SOLDIER. There had been a time when three men controlled SOLDIER, but two of those men were dead.

But in the end, he did remember and he really wished he hadn't.

"Aw, shit," Zack cursed.

This was not going to be good.

* * *

"Guys, we've got some big problems."

The others of the group looked at Zack condescendingly. He was stating the utmost obvious, he knew, but they didn't quite understand how much. The faces that looked back at him were weary, and the air around them was stagnate and quiet. Cold was coming in with the darkness. Nothing was what it was supposed to, and Cloud was still nowhere to be seen.

"Which one so you want to talk about first?" Tifa questioned, pulling her helmet off, tossing it unceremoniously onto the ground, her brown eyes glowering hatefully at the object. Her face was streaked with sweat, Zack noticed, and her long hair was tied up at the top in a large messy bun. Tifa was never the type of girl for Zack and yet he always believed she was pretty, but this was some type of angry and grotesque mask of herself. It wasn't even the dirt.

"Should we start on how the entire boat is looking for us; the fact that Cloud's still nowhere to be found; Yuffie's puking all over everything still, even though I've given her two full doses of tranquilizers; or your inability to understand anything anyone else is thinking?" Tifa snapped. "I'm tired of this." The woman looked close to tears and the ex-SOLDIER shrugged off her words. There was anger radiating from her, but Zack ignored it and hugged the woman lightly.

She let out a muffled cough-like cry but pushed away. There was a thin line of acceptance between the two and Zack had crossed the threshold by a hair.

"I'm fine." She pulled on the hem of her shirt, shaking her head to prevent the tears from falling. "Sorry about snapping at you."

"It's fine," Zack conceded. The act of being angry had not had an affect on Zack, but the way Tifa, the strong woman with fists of steel, was looking now was what was. Weakness was not something Tifa showed to people, even the person who she called a companion, if not a rival. Rival for what, Zack was still having trouble grasping. Cloud? Cloud wasn't some sort of prize to be caught in a net, like a butterfly or a rare fish. Cloud was Cloud... wasn't he?

_Of course he is,_ one part of Zack's mind snapped. _He's your buddy, a good pal, a best friend. He likes boobs and so do I. Well, sort of. Reno didn't have them, but Reno was different._

The other side was telling him things, whispers so loud that it was hard not to show what he was feeling to the others, which were some of the most odd and erotic things at the same time. But that didn't matter. It was _Cloud_. He couldn't compete over Cloud, it was foolish.

Even if he wasn't in love with Aeris, Zack gave a small cringe at this which none of the others seemed to notice, he wouldn't be attempting to shack up with Cloud; even though he still didn't admit it, the blonde still had feelings for Tifa, surely.

"Did you hear what I said, Zack?" Aeris waved her gloved palm in front of Zack's face, snapping him from his reverie.

"Er, no," Zack said. "But we've got to figure out a way to get Cloud. Everything else is small-fry to that. But before we go tracking off to find him, I figured there might be something you all need to be clued in on." Zack exchanged looks with Barret. The black man shrugged and pulled off his sailor hat, shoving it into his pocket.

"Whateva' you tell 'em, I ain't gunna even try ta explain. You doin' it on yur' own, gottit?"

"_You_ don't even get it," he murmured under his breath. "And there's something that I figured you might want to know, but it isn't good news."

Yuffie groaned twice as loud. "Spit it out an' give me sum' drugs," she exclaimed through gritted teeth.

"Whatever." Ignoring the Wutaian girl's comment, Zack continued to speak, "There's something fishy in the air, and I'm not making a pun of the fact that we're on water." Turning away from the group, Zack fiddled with his collar. His body did not make much sweat any longer nor really feel heat or cold thanks to the mako treatments, but the violet-eyed man knew there was something uncomfortable on his skin, under it.

"I—" hesitancy was clear in his voice, as well as fear. "I think that Sephiroth may be in some sort of contact with Rufus, or Rufus has been reading into the past. He shot Heidegger, and while that may not explain it at all, it was the way he did it that got me. Locked room, only two people, assassination by shot to the head. It's common, sure, but there was one thing that I did notice..."

"And what was that?"

"There was a hole in Heidegger's shirt before the gun went off. In that brief moment the lights went out, you remember it, right, Barret? He was stabbed to death, not shot."

This time he gained skeptical glances. They didn't understand it the way Zack did. "They were in the room alone, yet two wounds occur, one from a gun and the other from a sword of some sort. It can't be ruled which one did it, so it's like clearing a trail. Rufus had made sure that the captain saw the two together in that room, even though he shouldn't have been anywhere close. All Rufus has to say was that he saw something behind Heidegger and shot. The fat bastard had his heart pierced by a sword and a gunshot wound to the head, exactly like—"

"Kuduzaki Watashinu," Yuffie interupted. "The famous general during the Second Wutaian War. He was sent to sign a peace treaty and ended up being stabbed through the heart and a gunshot wound to the head. Only two people in the room and one of them was..." Yuffie turned her head and vomited on the ground.

"Genesis Rhapsodos was never good with a gun. Shot the top of the man's skull off. And I'd bet my left nut that it was Sephiroth who stabbed him." Putting his thumb in his mouth, the ex-SOLDIER fought with the next words to come out. "So, it had to be Sephiroth in that room."

Red asked the next question. "But why could it not be this person that you mentioned? Surely he was capable with a sword."

Zack sighed. "Of course he was. But I think he's dead. If I hadn't done it, the degeneration had. But that's not important," gesturing to Yuffie he continued, "just get everyone down to the cargo area. I think now is the best time to try to find Cloud. Before he's found by Sephiroth, who's no doubt lurking 'round here somewhere. It's best not to piss that fucker off right now."

Confusion seemed to melt in the air as rain of the seas trickled down. The heat was now gone, rain now present to wipe away the harsh sweat of the day. Time was of the essence, and Zack knew he needed to get to Cloud. Who knew what that Shinra bastard would do to him? The fat bastard's death could easily be blamed on Cloud, because he had a sword, and the world would have no qualms with anything else. Who would care about a gunshot wound to the head from the president's own gun? Not when he was attempting to bring down a dangerous criminal. It was the same act all over again, this time being used my different players.

The entire world seemed to be controlled like marionettes, those pulling the strings either getting too stupid, to the point where the lifeless dolls with their glass eyes were able to cut themselves down from the ropes, or getting too smart, and were now making those toys and their strings think they were free.

* * *

The cargo room was dark and cold. The heat seemed to sap away, like fall turning to the barren winter. Silence was permeating from the walls and Zack wanted to just see a tuft of blonde hair. Maybe the feeling of impending doom would be erased with blue and chocobo yellow. A long shot, perhaps, but it didn't matter much to Zack. Anything was better then the feeling lingering in the air and suffocating the black-haired man.

A world of darkness hid in the bowels of the ship, and it was drawing Zack to it. He jerked his head to the left, whispering for the others to follow behind, far enough behind that if anything was to happen, they would have ample time to either flee or fight.

"I think it's back here," Zack said. The door in the back of the cargo room, leading to the engine room was painted with the blood of others. Four men, their innards slashed to pieces, strangling them, laid on the ground, their blood the same color, same texture. "Ugh, killed so many of them. Wonder where the rest are?"

No one answered, but Yuffie let out a squeak when she slipped in a puddle of slick and warm blood. She screamed, and if anyone had been searching for the members of Avalanche, her voice in itself would have given away their position. Weary souls received no rest, especially when the one person who was cursed with what seemed to be the luck of the dead was positioned right next to them at all times of the day.

Not bothering to remove his glove for the blood was still wet and his bare hand would do nothing to help yank the door open, Zack rested his hand on the handle. The others seemed to stare pensively at the door and the ex-SOLDIER nodded.

"Something is in here; I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but whatever it is just duke it out. Got it? Everyone have their shit ready if we need it?" There was a a click from Barret's arm gun, and the sound of something scratching.

_Scratch._

"Huh? Who's doing that?" Tifa asked, Zack turning around to see all of the members looking at one another. "It wasn't me," she added.

_Scratch._

"It's coming from behind the door," Aeris whispered in fear; Zack had heard that voice used rarely by the green-eyed woman. Now it was common, and if Aeris said it was coming from behind the door, then it was most certainly coming from behind the door, no questions asked.

_Scratch._

"Get ready, I'm opening this it three," for the first time in a long time Zack felt like his hand was slick with sweat. "Two," there was a rustle from behind him and Zack stared right ahead at the door. "One," someone was puking, probably Yuffie again, but the sound of the door swinging open, the metal grinding against the floor caused Zack to forget the sound of retching and focus and sharpen his hearing and sadly his scent.

A repugnant smell of rotting corpses hit Zack's nostrils and he nearly bent over to gag as well. The air was hot from the burning furnace and the sound of slick machinery running, grinding of gears and someone's hard breath.

And there it was, clear as day, was the telltale yellow hair and then, to Zack's horror, someone with locks of silver.

* * *

Sephiroth didn't look like himself, the man he once had been. There was something glowing in his eyes, something no human could ever possess. It was insanity and homicidal look that glowed in two green pits of hate. Zack had seen those eyes cold, in his nightmares, in his flashbacks, in the moments where the smell of fire and smoke would invade his senses.

Everything must have been worse for Cloud.

The blonde looked scared—his eyes were large, his face lacking any expression besides wide-eyed horror, and there seemed to be no movement of his chest. He seemed to be scared to the point of loss of breath.

"Cloud!" Zack yelled, snapping his eyes away from another glance at Sephiroth. The man was smirking, tapping the tip of his Masamune against the floor, deep gouges being dug into the steel. It made a squealing sound that was louder than the machinery in the background.

"Cloud?" Sephiroth stated, his voice chilled. "He said I was Sephiroth."

"You motherfucker!" Zack grabbed the Buster Sword from its sheath and lifted it into the air, pointed directly at the green-eyed monster's heart. "Move and I slice you apart, Sephiroth!"

The man took no notice of the weapon. He continued to drag his sword against the ground, sparks flying into the sky. "I am Sephiroth." His voice seemed mechanical, but the sneer that was present on his pristine features, not aging a day from twenty-five, if that, stayed glued in place. "Yes... the time is now, my dear friend. The time is now."

With those last words that sent petrifying tingles down Zack's spine, the man disappeared in a whirlwind of black and left a nasty little surprise.

"Cloud! _Move_!" Zack was barely able to scream before the thing, whatever it was, sprouted out of the ground like a demented plant, its teeth already sharp and ready.

* * *

**So, I got a little carried away with the first part, but the next chapter will have the fight of Jenova! And Turks! And maybe something a little special... and this chapter's a bit long!**

**Please Review! **


	42. Mother

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Forty Five: Mother's Arm

The first thing that Zack noticed when he sliced into the ever-growing monster was that it didn't bleed like a normal human being. There was a sludgy black and green liquid that came forth from its wounds, the smell overpowering. It did, however, let out the most ungodly of screams.

Aeris was already summoning up shards of ice, the ex-SOLDIER saw as he pulled the Buster Sword from the tentacle of the beast. A few landed on their target but more bounced of and shattered against the ground. The temperature seemed to rise and with it both Aeris and Red switched over to fire magic instead.

"Cloud—get up!" Zack yelled, knocking himself into Cloud, seeming to shock him from whatever stupor he had been locked in. There was still the glazed look in his eyes, the open-mouthed terror, but he moved. Something still startled the teenager, anyone could have seen that, but his feet moved out of the way of a laser that the monster's eyes had produced, thick like poison.

Zack flipped out of the way just in time. Barret let out a stream of bullets, a hoarse battle-cry coming from his lips. Standing behind him was Yuffie who was queasily throwing around her shuriken high above on the walkway, though it was barely grazing what Zack assumed was Jenova, was having no luck whatsoever. Why the fuck Jenova was in the middle of a boat headed for Costa del Sol Zack wasn't exactly sure, but there were only so many reasons as to why. Sephiroth had been carrying around Jenova's head for a short amount of time, but was he carrying around other body parts that would suddenly sprout up and suddenly attack the group?

Jenova shrieked. Zack whipped his head to the side and saw Cloud summoning a woman from the materia on his wrist. There was a a chilled breeze, enough to freeze the very machinery that had been loudly rotating. Lights seemed to dim and Zack's teeth subconsciously clinked together, even though he could not necessarily feel the change in temperature.

Her body was blue. There was ice hanging from her long locks of blue, and a thinly veiled smirk upon the summon's face. She leaned forward to Cloud, Zack noticed as he glared, and breathed against his ear as she traced her fingers against the blonde's cheek. _What the hell is it doing? Molesting him? Shouldn't she be fighting?_ Zack rolled his eyes before sidestepping another spiked tentacle, accompanied by a bright laser. Aeris was sending out Cure spells, one hitting Zack in the back, but there were no wounds on his skin. The adrenaline was pumping too fast; it was beating like a drum inside of his ears, over and over again.

Tifa was off to the side, blood dripping from an open wound on her shoulder. Her lips, which were normally pale, were painted with crimson. "Tifa—Aeris—" he yelled, pointing his sword to the place where the woman was bleeding, Aeris frantically pulling out her materia.

There was never a dull moment when being attacked, Zack thrust his sword forward, catching on the prong-like arm of the ghastly monster. It let out a high-pitched squeal and from its mouth shot something unrecognizable toward where Cloud was still attempting to coax the summon to attack, rather than running its fingers across his face. The black-haired man knew there was no time to yell, and instead dodged in front, knocking into the semi-solid ice princess and the chocobo-head.

Whatever it was stung. He took in a deep gasp, his lungs freezing up inside of his throat. Much, much worse than the cold, Zack would have conceded. If, of course, he could speak.

_Time spell, stop. Shit,_ Zack thought as he felt his eyelids twitch. The spell was a powerful one, only the most powerful of monsters and materia being able to even grasp it. Zack used to use it all the time, one of his favorite spells, but there was no way he could get his fingers on it. Materia of such high value took years of training. But that didn't help him with the fact that he was still very much frozen.

Yuffie was reaching into her satchel to throw a remedy at where Zack was frozen when the ship rocked to the side dangerously. All of the contents of the small purse-like object slipped out and shattered against the floor.

Time seemed to come back to life, even with the girl swearing as she held her hand over her mouth, looking mournfully down at the broken bottles.

Shaking his head to rid of the sensation of moving to quickly, the ex-SOLDIER yelled out a quick, "Control that fucking summons, Cloud—put her back in her fucking ball if she doesn't want to help," before beginning to attack again, this time with what he could only consider a vengeance.

_'I do not take orders from humans,'_ Zack nearly wet himself as the voice whispered against his ear, even though there had been no physical sound. Madness crept into the summon's voice, Shiva. _'But I shall do of what he states, even though I may loath your kind.'_

Zack shivered briefly when the Summon moved away and directed her cold voice and being at Jenova. Cloud had taken the opportunity to collect his sword from the other side of the room where Zack hadn't even known it had been. It wasn't visible when Zack got into the room but there were a thousand and one different explanations to it. Zack didn't want to waste anymore time.

"Barret, shoot at it's left arm," he yelled quickly as he headed for the opposite arm. Without much thought he saw both Red and Tifa heading for the front and a blazing spell on Aeris's tongue. Without one moment of hesitation Zack gave a quick nod to Red, who ran directly ahead of him, and allowed Zack to jump onto his back, giving him an extra push into the sky. With a quick twist the Buster Sword was impaled in Jenova's right arm up to the hilt, and using his feet he dug it even further in and pulled it cleanly through. The greenish black sludge felt like molten plastic and mako on his skin, reminding of times where he was drowned and pulling at his hair, scalp raw. It reminded him of deep screams and even deeper wounds. It reminded him of Cloud strapped down to a table, crying tears of blood.

If there was one thing the black-haired man hated more than anything it was that.

As if conjured by the goddess herself, the moment Zack landed on his feet, Cloud was off, a scream of anger in his throat, sword glistening with wetness, Shiva trailing after him. There was a smirk on the summon's lips, one that Zack did not enjoy.

And with great difficulty Zack reminded himself that it wasn't because she had placed her hands on Cloud in such a blasé way, but because she was a pain in the ass that didn't even attempt to help him.

Summons were temperamental little children when they didn't get their way—Zack wanted to ask the blonde once the fight was over what exactly she was asking for in return.

Once again without warning the boat seemed to go lopsided. With a quick glance Zack noted that it wasn't only Yuffie who was turning green around the edges of their cheeks.

_A few more hits and this thing should drop like a bag of rice,_ Zack reminded himself as he wiped the sticky film off his hands, readying to continue his attack further on the hideous beast.

* * *

Zack was becoming accustomed to the smell of other people's blood in his nostrils. With a quick jut to Jenova's arm, the entire thing fell to the ground with a sickening splat, covering the floor below with even more fluid. It was beginning to look more like a mural of colors than the scene of a deep battle. The red's of Red XIII's skin lit up like blood when the yellows and oranges of the fire spells he was sending forth crashed into Jenova. The ground was covered in its blood, sickly green, turning more to the color of acid green as the moments wore on. Cloud was engulfed by Shiva, who was following him around, shooting ice spells forward, only occasionally hitting their intended target. His own eyes had begun to dilate from the mako pounding in his veins, and the glint of steel told him that the brightness of his violet eyes multiplied over the course of the long and winding fight.

The thing just didn't want to die. It was animal instinct not to allow oneself to die, but Jenova was gashed into a thousand pieces, limbs lying on the floor in the muck of its blood, and yet still it stood. For a little while Zack wondered if he would have to chop every piece of the body up and then burn it just to make it die, and it seemed that everyone else was believing along the same lines before the beast let out one last pitiful wail and fell to the ground, writhing.

What happened next was nothing short of horrifying. The body of Jenova, beaten and dying, seemed to morph. There was blonde hair, stained with red, and the pale face of a woman who had once been beautiful, in life. Her hands, barely attached to her body, grabbed nimbly for the air, a thinning voice whining out.

"Cloud..." Kysen Strife whispered and Zack nearly lost his past meals in a wisp of a memory. Her throat was slit again, bared at the heavens like a peace offering, but this time she was not in a peaceful eternal slumber, but grasping for the last grains of sand. The sieve of life did not wish for her breath and voice, and her eyes were the most magnificent of blue.

Cloud was by her corpses side in a moment, the summon that had been precariously following fading to a ghostly smoke. There were tears in his eyes as he shook her arms, his throat already going raw from the hoarse screams penetrating every cell of Zack's being. There was a tidal wave of sorrow and loss. The blonde laid his hand on her cheek only for it to turn to wisps of greenish black and turn back into the monster it had been when it died.

No one spoke, the only sound in the room was the machines and Cloud's screaming. No one moved, for there was little they themselves could do. No one looked at Cloud as he gathered the dead monster, cut into so many tiny little pieces, in his arms... except for Zack, who could not draw his eyes away from the ghastly sight before him. Throughout the journey, for the last five years, Zack never spoke of how exactly she had died, and even though the picture he had witnessed before his eyes was not necessarily correct, it would forever be burned into the blonde's mind.

The trauma would be far to much for him to bear alone, and while the others stared at their feet, Zack laid his sword down in the cleanest of areas to help the boy move the body of the beast.

Their eyes did not meet while they moved what was,for a brief moment, Kysen. Cloud was still crying, though his tears were now drying into a mask. There was no words to explain the situation that had taken place, and no one tried.

They burned the body. Zack hadn't been exactly sure of what they were going to do with the corpse, but Cloud has asked, without any enthusiasm whatsoever to have Tifa hand him her fire materia. Yuffie instead threw Cloud a yellow ball, nodding her head.

Within a moment everything was on fire, a blaze of death and destruction, and the black-haired man watched as Jenova's body burned and twisted to ashes. The smoke billowed in Zack's nostrils, a deep and desperate smell, but Cloud's face glowed with the ash and fire.

"She died more peacefully than that," the ex-SOLDIER uttered, clasping his hand experimentally on Cloud's shoulder. It was slick with sweat and blood, but he could still feel the shaking below his fingertips.

"No death is peaceful," Cloud whispered back.

* * *

There had been a little red ball left over when the body was finished burning and Cloud refused to touch it.

"I have two as it is; I don't want that one," he explained to Aeris, who was the one to pick up the little ball of materia. "You can have it," Cloud said as he turned. There were tear tracks through the grime of sweat and ashes that covered his face. There was a sadness that no words could explain, the sadness of a man, a boy, who had lost everything and anything to the bounty of war. Peacefulness was for the people who were dense; no such thing existed.

Aeris thanked Cloud wearily; the fight had taken much out of everyone. The ending piece, the king of the opponent's chess game was knocked over, and now was the time for a long-needed rest, whenever the sun would rise and the boat would dock.

Zack could already feel the adrenaline that once coursed through his body fade away. He was left with a body that was hungry and tired, one that needed to wash and get out of the double layered clothing. He wanted to lay in his bed next to Cloud and fall asleep with the smell of cherry blossoms and—

_What the fuck? Why am I thinking about that?_ Zack snapped his head to the side where Cloud was sitting on the ground, his helmet back on, hiding his face from sight. There was little life in him, and Zack wanted to grab the boy and shake something, anything, into him. He wanted to shake life back into the blonde man, still teenager, because it was heartbreaking to see him so sad.

"Cloud." Zack slipped to the ground next to him, tucking his knees below the crook of his head. "How did you get out of the brig?" It would be best, Zack thought, to get through the questions he needed to ask before the boy just fell asleep where he sat.

Cloud shrugged, not giving a good answer. "Don't know," he said without much tone. "I just got out."

_That's not a whole lot to go off of, Cloud. _Zack thought as he rubbed his chin. "But," he continued with his questioning, "did someone help you out, or in the brig did you find a way out? Maybe someone left a door unlocked?"

"Does it really matter?" To Zack it did, but Cloud's voice pleaded with him to stop. "I just don't want to talk about it right now; okay? It's not important anyway,"

Zack took off his gloves and placed them on the floor next to his feet and continued to rock back and forth. Considering the many things which had taken place within the last hour, to Cloud nothing would be more important than the moment with his mother, or the mother he thought Jenova had turned into.

"You know that wasn't your ma, right?" Zack questioned. Because Cloud's face was covered the raven-haired man could not tell if he was giving an answer with his eyes. Cloud's eyes could tell stories of every genre in them with just the briefest of glances.

"It wasn't my ma..." he repeated, voice choking up in his throat. "It wasn't her, Zack... not her. Never her. Why her?"

There was not much comfort the ebony-haired man could give. Cloud was in a world of his own, where angels and demons took on the form of the woman who loved him, who was the only one who was there for him as he grew and flourished. She was gone, and Zack could l compare the pain to the loss of Angeal, his closest mentor and friend. Zack had never lost a parent, never wanted to deal with the pain and suffering such thing would cause, like no other pain. No greater sadness.

Zack wanted to grab hold of Cloud my the shoulders and allow him to cry on him, like a mother would allow her child to, but it was not the best thing he could do. Rather than touching him, Zack stayed away, gazing and longing to do such things.

"Because she was an amazing woman, and Sephiroth is insane. She loved and he did not, not after that, anyway."

Cloud seemed to understand. "She was the most beautiful person I ever knew. I would have given anything for her to have survived."

_And I would give anything to see you happy, Cloud. I don't know why, but I would. You're an important person to me, chocobo-head. I never realized it before. You're important. More important than I had ever believed. _

* * *

The ship reached port late at night, the winds of the seas calm, the water at low tide. It was beautiful, the first time Zack had seem the clear water in so long. Once he had vacationed there, on these very beaches, but the reason he was on those same sandy shores again was not to vacation. He wondered if he would ever have another vacation—definitely not while Shinra was draining the earth dry, and Sephiroth was running around, killing people. Most certainly not while Hojo was still alive.

Many casualties had happened on board, all blamed on Sephiroth. This, for once, calmed Zack. It meant that no one other than a few, select numbers would know that Avalanche was on a different continent. Calm the panic, perhaps, but somewhere inside of his gut, Zack knew that there must have been another reason for Rufus keeping everything so tightly under wraps. Did it have something to do with that file that he had mentioned, right before the lights went out? Maybe it had to do with Tseng, who seemed to be more deeply connected than the ex-SOLDIER really wanted? There were many maybes.

But the air was cool of his unmasked face, and it felt like heaven for the briefest of moments. Yuffie was nearby, taking in large gasps of breath and vomiting the last bits of whatever she had been eating for the past week up and into the ocean. Tifa was looking more beaten down than she had the entire trip, and Barret seemed to be falling asleep standing up. Everyone was tired, especially Cloud, who had been emotionally worn down, as well as physically.

The blonde was falling asleep on his shoulder. He was still wearing his mask, unlike Zack, for reasons unknown. Zack didn't want to take it off, however he did. The teen took in a few deep breaths, his eyes fluttering open and closed.

"We're gunna find a place to sleep soon," Zack explained as he pulled Cloud around, behind a rather large set of cargo. The others followed dutifully behind. It was still possible for Zack and Cloud to see out of the area, but the area was dark enough that it should have kept away prying eyes. "We just have to wait until Rufus gets on that damn helicopter. It'll be safer for all of us that way." The helicopter in question was on the heli-pad, already waiting for the president. Though it was not manned, Zack knew very well who would be piloting it. Obvious only because the lanky red-haired man smoking a cigarette in front of it with his arm slung around a very, very annoyed Tseng.

Zack wanted to beat the shit out of Reno—he was the reason Cloud had gotten caught by Tseng, and why they now knew that the group was in Costa del Sol. Granted, it could have been much, much worse, but the red-haired bastard was not one to play games with; he liked rough and cruel games which tended to leave those playing with a hole through their skull. Reno was a vicious monster whose hands were covered in blood.

"He's looking over here," Cloud whispered. His voice barely loud enough for Zack to hear, even with his impeccable hearing.

"Ignore him."

"But he's staring right at me." Cloud was right, of course; Reno was blowing smoke rings, a smile adorning his face. "He's a big creep."

Zack patted the teenager on the head, touching his soft hair, even dirtied by the fight. "He'll be gone soon, Chocobo-head. Then I'll get you to a hotel so you can go to sleep and shower. Sound good?"

"I'm not a little kid."

"'Course you aren't, but that doesn't mean that someone can't take care of you on occasion."

Tifa, who was the closest person to them, agreed. "Sometimes being strong is willing to accept other people's help."

Looking over to her, Zack noticed the large hole in her uniform. It went straight over her shoulder blade. "You doin' okay yourself?" He gestured to the cut uniform.

"Fine," she answered as she lifted her hand to her shoulder subconsciously. "It's fine. Aeris took care of it in about three seconds. Not all that bad."

_True. I've seen you a lot worse. You remember that, don't you, Tifa? When you said you hated me? I remember, even if you don't. I don't know or remember much, but I can say that I remember that. I'll remember that for a long time. A lot of hate. _

Reno continued to smirk and Zack continued to glare, and Cloud continued to be uncomfortable, from how his entire being seemed to writhe in disgust at that other man.

* * *

The hotel wasn't the most popular of ones in Costa del Sol, not the cheapest by far, but it was the only one with enough vacant rooms with enough beds. Zack ended up paying for three rooms: one for the girls that had three beds, and two other rooms with only one. Red did not like to sleep on beds by himself, so he was with Barret, while Zack and Cloud took the other. There was a room with two beds, but it was too far away from the others, so the ebony-haired man decided that Cloud was nearly passed out, and that sleeping in the same bed wouldn't be that big of a deal.

"Come on Cloud, let's get you cleaned up before putting you to bed." Slinging the packs to the ground, Zack pushed the keycard to the room onto the nearby nightstand. He helped the blonde to the nearby chair, where he slumped over, his head resting on his own shoulder.

"I don't think I can," Cloud explained groggily. "Too tired. I want to go to bed."

Zack clicked his tongue. "I'm not sleeping next to you while you smell like that, Cloud. Come on; I'll help you take a bath and then get you to bed. Promise I won't grab your pretty little ass either." Zack leaned up from where he was digging through the packs, producing a few clean bedtime garments. "Pinky promise?" He held out his empty left hand and shook it in front of the dirty boy. "Come on. You smell like something died and you rolled around in it."

Cloud let out a small smile. "Whatever Zack. You're making me a bit dizzy waving that in the air. Just not pervertedness, okay?"

The raven-haired man smiled and nodded. "Sure. Now come on." Zack grabbed Cloud by the wrist, stood up and all but picked Cloud up and helped him into the bathroom.

"I have feet, y'know," he muttered monotonously, but there was a slight air of happiness, the first since the day had started with that near-kiss. Zack nearly shivered at the memory, and had to forcefully shake himself to forget about it. This was _not_ the time to be thinking of such absolutely silly nonsense things.

Flicking on the light with the hand that held the clothes, Zack had to blink at how bright the bathroom was. The next few minutes were filled with awkward moments with Cloud fumbling with the uniform and Zack occasionally making cat-calls. The blonde's face was already a shade of red when he slipped into the bubbly bath, sneezing at the smell. Zack agreed.

"It smells terrible," Cloud complained. "I mean, did you have to use the entire bottle?"

Zack nodded. "Yep. You wanted a little bit of privacy so I wouldn't be staring at your ass and or other parts, so I figured you'd rather deal with the smell rather than my, as you put it not a few seconds ago, 'lust-filled crazy eyes'."

"It's a debauchery, really."

"Don't use big words while I'm in control of the water temp. I could so make you pay for many-a-many things, but..." the ex-SOLDIER gave a large, teeth-filled smile, "I wouldn't do that to my lovely little chocobo." Zack soaped up his hands and twirled them in Cloud's strands of yellow, cleaning them of the gunk. "So," something had been nagging on Zack since he had seen the fight. "What the fuck was that ice chunk propositioning you for?"

Cloud's eyes opened a little wide and her laughed. "Oh, that," he answered nonchalantly. "She wants a payment for her services, you see..." Zack did not, however see, but kept his eyes on Cloud. "She wants a payment of—"

"Of what, your virginity?"

"Yes."

If there had been anything in Zack's mouth it would have been spit out onto the ground. "Y—you kidding, right?"

"Of course I am. But she wasn't asking for anything... not really. She just wants to be taken out. The mako doesn't do anything for her skin, or so she said."

Zack continued to clean Cloud's hair, laughing the entire time.

* * *

**So, I liked this chapter. I did, I did. Anyway... **

**Please Review! **


	43. Interlude Eight: Thrust

Author Notes: This interlude is to D3OPH3ST, who wanted a interlude for her 500th review! I won't be giving out an interlude for the 600th review because the person who did it was anonymous. I am sorry about that, the person who sent the review I, and I really do thank you! But... to be fair, I won't be putting one up.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Interlude Eight: Thrust

"You aren't performing to your best standard, Puppy," Angeal stated as he smacked his sword against Zack's, the weaponry flying through the air and impaling itself in the wall of the training room.

Zack snapped off his virtual goggles, his grip on the piece nearly breaking the metal and plastic. "I'm trying here, y'know?" he muttered a few chosen curse words under his breath, not directed at either himself or his Commanding Officer, but at the stupid _fucking_ sword that would never stay in his hand. "It just doesn't want to stay, Sir. It's like—" there were no words to explain the situation, so instead the SOLDIER Third-Class wildly waved his hands around, his spikes of black flying in each and every way. "Voom!"

"You are quite hyperactive today, aren't you?" The Commander gave a gruff smile as he pushed the blade he was using into its sheath. The Buster Sword still hung across Angeal's back, unmoved during the entire training exercise.

"No more than usual, sir," Zack commented quickly, the anger fading from him. "I guess I'm just upset about it, I guess."

Angeal's dark blue eyes stared deep into the Third-Class's eyes, which had began to turn purple from his own exposure the mako. "You are not concentrating because of a certain mission, am I correct? One that involves the Turks?"

"I guess," he answered vaguely. Zack cocked his shoulders back and swung the blade over his shoulder, letting the magnet of his sheath attach to the sword. "I just got a friend and they're sending him off. I mean, I've never really been close to anyone outside of the program, Sir. Reno is the first buddy I've had that isn't a SOLDIER himself. You understand, right?"

"I do, cadet, but that does not mean that you must worry. Those in the Turks have excellent credentials. I believe that Sinclair will be fine. Do not worry so much." Angeal walked forward and placed a hand somewhat awkwardly on the younger teen's shoulder.

Something else had been bothering Zack, and he wanted to talk about it, really, but the raven-haired boy wasn't sure how to bring it up. "I, um...ah," was all that he was able to get out before one of the doors to the training room opened and another man strode forward, the glint of his weapon shining in the pale light.

Genesis Rhapsodos was a man of few words to those below him, and more words for those that were his equal. The sword in his hand was mere inches from the ground, twinkling like a macabre painting of blood; it shined with its own ethereal glow. The man who held it was much like the sword. He was a man worthy of praise and fear, of a macabre painting like the ones he created on the battlefield. The pictures that were shown during the first class were enough to show the cruelty of one man and his sword. This man in particular was one to be admired from afar, as well as fear.

Snapping a salute and not moving from the position, Zack straightened his back out and stared ahead. There were butterflies of nervousness inside of his stomach. He could screw up in front of Angeal without worrying too much, but this was different. Oh, if even one finger made the slightest of movements Zack would never be able to live it down, and he knew it.

The two SOLDIER First-Class's clasped one another's hands as a form of politeness, though Zack could see that Angeal's smile seemed to fray at the ends. But it made no sense; as far as Zack knew, Angeal and Genesis were friends, at least, that's what Angeal always said. Zack had even said once, when his mentorship began with the SOLDIER, that he thought Genesis was scary. There was something in his eyes that reminded Zack of death and dismemberment, not only because of the haunting photos; it was something that didn't seem to fade into the background.

"Angeal," Genesis stated coolly, only giving a half-glance toward Zack. "You can tell your Puppy that he can put that arm down. I am not here for business." The two let go and Zack seemed to notice a spark go between the two.

"You are right." Dark blue eyes turned to Zack and Angeal nodded. "You may return to your room. I believe Genesis and I have important information to speak of with one another so you are dismissed—"

"I do not believe that is necessary, Angeal," the auburn-haired man smirked, allowing his hand that was previously clasped in the other SOLDIER's hand to drop. "In fact, I wanted to view your training session."

Zack audibly gulped. This was _not_ a good thing. In fact, it was probably the worst thing that could possibly happen. He had just completely sucked up his training because of worrying, and now he would have to fight and not look like a complete and utter fuck-headed incompetent moron. Oh joy.

"Erm, I, um... alright, Sir." Zack himself could hear the hesitancy in his own voice. "How, uh, should I do this?"

Genesis smirked openly. "Oh, I believe that you and Angeal should spar, and allow myself to stand on the sidelines. He'll be careful with his Puppy. Right, Angeal?"

There came no answer from the black-haired, serious SOLDIER.

"I guess so," Zack said as he swung the goggles in one of his hands. "Should I just?" He made a motion to throw the object, but Genesis quickly walked forward and snatched the equipment.

"Would not be smart to destroy such an expensive piece of equipment," the auburn-haired man let out a laugh that didn't make Zack feel comedy in the situation, but rather a keen sense of horror. It was like one of those fun houses in Midgar that was recently shut down; no one had thought the blood was real until they turned on the lights.

"Of course not," Zack said. "That would be stupid."

* * *

Unsurprisingly, within ten minutes the SOLDIER Third-Class was lying on the ground, panting and heaving. Angeal was above him, sheathing his weapon. "Today has not been a good day for you," the man stated as he waved his hand in front of Zack's face. "You should go back to your barracks and sleep it off. There should be information on the mission soon."

Without another word Zack was pulled up and his shoulder dusted off. It was like being treated as a child; Angeal silently inspected for wounds before declaring that their sparing session was now completely over and that he needed to speak to Genesis, who was still smirking his funhouse smirk as Zack left.

There wasn't a very good reason for Zack to stick behind, but for some reason he was compelled to. An invisible hand was holding him back, telling him to stay put and to hide behind the large door. Sure, it was snooping, and he could most certainly get into trouble, but there had been an air of something, something thick, while Angeal was sparring with him, and Zack knew it had something to do with the other Commander.

They were yelling at each other. The words weren't comprehensible, not to Zack at least, but the tone as angry, harsh. Then, after a moment of two, the training room went silent.

_Have they just killed each other?_ Zack wanted to push his ear to the partially open door, but then another sound came, one that was confusing and disturbing at the same time. _What the fuck...?_

Peeking through the door, something that Zack had never thought would happen before his eyes occurred. There was Angeal, a sheen of sweat adorning his brow like a halo. SOLDIER's weren't supposed to sweat, but why would he be? That was, however, until Zack's eyes trailed down, to where one auburn-haired man's head was bobbing.

He was barely able to hold in his disgust. That, _this_, was not what two Commanding Officers were supposed to be doing in broad daylight, inside of a SOLDIER training room. It was supposed to be used for training, not... that. There was no other word to explain it. It was just... that.

And between two men? One so strong as Angeal? A man as strong as Genesis on his knees?

Time seemed to pass, and his feet wouldn't work. Not even when Genesis came rushing out the door, his mako-blue eyes wide, spitting a few words at Angeal.

"And just remember that you are _mine_. Not _his_."

* * *

Both men had seen Zack at the door, but it wasn't Genesis who said anything. Granted, the words that were coming out like acid were not aimed at the Third-Class. But, whatever anger Genesis had sent at Zack's mentor had wound up the man so much that he nearly took away Zack's rank in anger.

"Just go," Angeal exclaimed in the end, no emotion in his voice. "This is not a matter you should butt your head into, Zackary. In fact, it would be in your best interest not to speak of what you viewed."

"I wouldn't anyway."

Angeal interrupted before he could finish his sentence. "That does not matter. Now, if you would, please go back to your barracks."

Knowing that there was nothing he could do to explain exactly why he had stayed back, defying direct orders, Zack turned away.

"Can you just answer me one thing, Sir?"

Angeal made a sound of disappointment, but said "What?"

"Is that normal, you know? The..."

"Sex is normal, and it occurs more often than you'd believe in the military."

"But is that why Commanding Officer Genesis was angry at you? Is it because you were—"

"Go to your barracks, Fair. I answered your question, and I will not answer another. Unless you wish to be demoted of course."

Before Zack began to walk, he turned his head when Angeal said something. "Huh?"

"Come an hour and a half early tomorrow. You will not be eating breakfast and we will be working straight through your lunch hour. It is fair punishment."

_I wasn't on the receiving end of oral sex, Angeal, and I get in trouble! Pssht. Fuck it; Reno and I'll have a nice laugh about this when he gets back from his mission. _

"And according to the message I received a little while ago, the Turks will be back tomorrow."

_Aw. Damn. And I won't even be able to see him to make fun of this entire situation until after I get my ass wiped down. _

* * *

**I don't like this one bit. Not one dang bit. Not at all. I would not like this in a car, I would not like this in a mall, I would not like this anywhere, I do not like this interlude, Sam-I-Am! Okay, so what? I totally just screwed that Dr. Seuss book up, but oh well. Tell me how much you hate it. I'm sorry if it disappoints anyone. Or, maybe I'm just overreacting and you'll like it? Maybe?**

**Please Review! **


	44. Science

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Forty Six: Science

In the morning, or rather the afternoon, Zack and Cloud had both rested for what Zack had called 'an eternity'.

"Can we go exploring now? I've been _so_ bored!" Zack said. He had awoken nearly three hours before, and for the longest time just laid in the bed with Cloud snoring softly next to him. For amusement, he had taken to counting how many ways he could torture Cloud outside of the hotel. Everyone would just have to deal with him and Cloud running around to stretch their legs. It had been too long on that boat, and now they had to adjust their legs back to the ground.

"What if I don't want to go out?"

Zack scoffed as he threw a pillow at Cloud's frizzled head. The teenager was still dazed from his waking, and so another hit to the skull did nothing for him. "Don't be ridiculous, Cloudy-boy. We're going to go searching, at least for a little while. I think everyone'll agree that we need a day off."

"But what about Sephiroth?"

"What about him? I think," Zack leaned over and ruffled Cloud's hair, "that it doesn't matter if he gets a day on us. I don't think he's walking the entire way, that's for sure, and he's still human. Well, that's kinda debatable, but still. You get it, right, Cloud? He isn't going to get any further than he would if we left this moment."

Cloud said nothing, but instead crossed his arms in front of his face and yawned. "I disagree with you—"

"Like that makes a difference."

Murky blue eyes narrowed at Zack from between his arms, and the raven-haired man smiled a short smile and waved his hand, as if to great an old friend. "I don't care what you think."

"And I really don't care what _you_ think, my dear puff-ball friend. Now," Zack snatched the PHS from the top if his bag that was near the bed, leaning over and stretching, "I've got a girl to call and you should go brush your teeth or something. How does that sound?"

Not receiving an answer, but the bed moving underneath him, Zack punched in a quick succession of numbers into the phone. When he raised the phone to his ear, there was a brief moment of fuzz and then the other end was picked up.

"What is it, Zack?" Tifa's voice was weary and tired. There was a sniffle in her voice, and Zack wondered if there would be a sudden outburst against him.

"Uh, hey. Cloud's up, and he, uh, we, think it's be nice if we had a day off. Get started tomorrow? Hehe." Zack scratched his head subconsciously. "You okay with that?"

There was a tense silence over the phone, and the ex-SOLDIER could hear his own breathing, ragged, in his ear. He pulled the receiver away from his mouth.

"Fine. We were wondering, anyway."

Zack sighed in relief. "Oh, good. I thought you would kill me. Where are you guys, anyway?"

For a second there was more silence, and then the laughter of several people: the high-pitched screech of Yuffie, the bark of Red, the bell-ish tinkling laugh of Aeris, the growl which could have very well belonged to Red coming from Barret, and Tifa, whose laugh was nearly drowned out by the others.

"We're already out at the beach."

"Oh?" Zack turned to Cloud, mouthing to the blonde where they were. "Well, uh, I guess that's nice. We'll be down in a few minutes, once I get Cloud to pick up his jaw from the ground." With that Zack snapped the lid of the phone down. He looked up to Cloud, shrugging. "Down at the beach. Didn't expect that, maybe a fight—"

"Or anything, for that matter."

"Quit butting into my sentences," Zack chided as he jumped up off of the bed, shaking himself around the room, a minute dance and pop to his step. "And yeah. But you know what? I wanna get a tan. I've been looking a little too peaky, y'know?" To prove his point, the violet-eyed man lifted his shirt up and pointed to his stomach. "You see this?"

Cloud didn't bother to look. Zack knew the spiky-headed chocobo enough to know when he was embarrassing him. A tinge of red blushed against Cloud's cheeks barely, and he was looking rather angry. Rather than saying anything to further the teen's anger, Zack simply looked away and reached for the bag of his belongings. "I don't have any bathing suits, but we could go get some. Probably wouldn't cost too much."

As he expected, there was no answer to his words. Instead, the ex-SOLDIER shrugged as he dumped out the bag, once again rifling through it with the hopes that maybe Aeris had found a bathing suit on sale and had shoved it below his shampoo or even his package of things he didn't want the others to see. Midgar was a place to trade things, and what he had would cause quite a bit of ruckus.

Part of Zack wanted to make Cloud follow after him—it was his fault that he was so bored—but when he turned back around after searching through the clothing for something suitable to wear at a beach, where his chest would be shown, and his bottom wouldn't be covered by spandex or one of those horribly tight neon-colored shorts that older men like Palmer would wear, with their rounded stomachs pushing out, the thick hair growing like ivy getting stuck in the elastic, he noticed that something was wrong with the Chocobo-head.

"Hey?" he said, "You doin' okay, buddy? Still tired, maybe?"

_What could possibly have Cloudy-boy bummed out? We're at the capital of beaches, the most beautiful and sunny place on the map. The water's warm and the beaches are clean, and the air smells of fish and salt. What's not to love about here? Is he still thinking of yesterday...? I wouldn't be surprised; it was bad. _

Cloud scratched his nose and Zack could hear the clucking of his tongue against his teeth. "I'm fine," he replied. The nonchalant answer came with a side of nervousness, one that no one besides those closest to him would have noticed. "It's just..."

"It's just what?"

"I don't want to go to the beach."

"And why not? It's only for a little while, and then we can get back to hiking through the mountains at break-neck speeds to find Sephiroth and cut off his hair. I'll even make you a ring of his hair, just to prove a point."

The answer was quick and emotionless. "No. I don't want to go to the beach; can't you just, for once, take my words without trying to turn them on me?"

_Huh? What's he going on about? _"Why don't you want to go to the beach?" Zack stepped forward, reaching for Cloud's hair with the hopes of ruffling it, like he always did when the other ex-Shinra member became angry or feisty. This time he expected his hand to come back as a stump.

In response, as expected, Cloud pushed him away and, oddly pulled his shirt over his head.

"There's your answer."

"Oh." The scars, the one thing that Zack didn't want to remember. They were a mark that told a story of their own, one that was as horrifying as looking into Sephiroth's glowing eyes without a weapon or a word of mercy. They were a shame to Cloud, and to himself—the ones under his shirt weren't any prettier, but he had grown accustom to the scars. Zack had trouble sometimes looking at himself in the mirror where he could see them, but Cloud, the blonde boy didn't seem to be coping. He didn't remember every detail to the point of knowing which weapon on what day left that particular scar.

After a moment and the slightest of coughs, the raven-haired man shuffled his foot against the carpet, nudging into a t-shirt, pushing it towards Cloud. "I promise I won't make you come," he started, leaning down and picking up the deep blue shirt, holding it out like a peace offering. "I just want you to have some fun, relax, get your mind off what you're going through. Especially after the boat."

Cloud held out his hand and Zack took the moment to push the cloth into his hand. He received a glare in response, but it didn't matter.

"We're going to the beach, Cloudy. I know you've got insecurities—" the short blonde boy snorted and threw the t-shirt over his head, staring off at Zack with what the ex-SOLDIER could only call a streak of rebellious anger, "—but this shouldn't interfere with a gift we got shoved under our noses. I mean, think about it; how often are we dumped into a resort town? Just forget about everything, for one day; forget all about Sephiroth and Hojo and the world, and just try to relax. You'd be surprised at what it'll do for your complexion."

The two stared at one another for a moment, Zack looking into Cloud's deep blue, impenetrable mako eyes, and he hoped that he got through.

* * *

Now all Zack needed was a alcoholic beverage out of a coconut and his life, for the moment, would have been complete. Too much was going on in his head, and his brain had been calling for a vacation from the horrors of life for a while—ever since he had seen Cloud strapped up in the Shinra Tower, since his blood had coated the glass, a reminder of those years in the basement with only their screams and the tinkling of glass vials to accompany them. That moment had reminded him of the times in the beginning, when the hole in Cloud's stomach caused by Sephiroth's sword and a miscalculation were at their brightest. Before their bodies submitted to the experiment and mako treatments, before Zack's cries turned to whimpers and then eventually the cold silence of nights in Nibelheim.

He didn't know who was the right person to blame, in the beginning. Was it Sephiroth, insane with Jenova, or Hojo, insane for another purpose all together? Was it another person, one he didn't know about, one that deserved the blame for the both. Perhaps it was a dream, too hopeful to even ask for, but Zack didn't want to blame Sephiroth, the SOLDIER First-Class that had been such an inspiration to Cloud. There had always been an evil streak in Hojo, ever since the beginning, the moment that Zack met the mad scientist in the Shinra Headquarters, but maybe there had been a reason for the insanity.

While he was a realist, understanding that life was neither perfect or fair, a lesson learned after too much pain on his own part and watching those he cared for fly into the air, soaring to the heavens and Lifestream. Zack wanted nothing more than to believe that every human being started out good. Their actions, or lack of, affected their future. If one thing happened for a reason, it helped shape the person into what they were planned to become.

But if that was what Hojo had become, then what would he become? Aeris? Red?

What would Cloud become, most of all? Denying it would have been pointless and stupid, but Zack couldn't accept that nature, or the divine, or Minerva above, turning Cloud into something akin to Hojo. It wasn't natural, it wasn't right, it was disgust and sickness rolled together to create a masterpiece only a man like Hojo or Sephiroth could enjoy staring at.

Not Cloud.

But, what if Cloud became insane with anger and lust to destroy all that stood in his way? What would change him from being a Sephiroth imitation?

He hoped that it would be him, if it ever had to come into play...

"Hey, Zack?" Something butted into his ribcage and he jumped up from the beach blanket, spinning wildly to see which person had attacked him from his intrusive thoughts. Unsurprisingly, two warm green eyes stared back at him, and Zack relaxed his posture.

"You got so still all of a sudden." Aeris poked at the shirt across his chest, an unspoken promise to Cloud that he still remembered what laid beneath, and would hide it from the world as long as Cloud wanted.

Zack said an apology. "Sorry 'bout that. Got side-tracked, you know. It's nice out, really hot weather. I wish one of those coconut-clad dancers would come and give me a massage and some ice cream. Doesn't that sound nice?" Quickly he leaned over and pat his stomach before her appreciatively. "That's be awesome, don't you think?"

Aeris nodded and pulled the strap of her one piece pink bathing suit up. The strap was continuously falling down, and it was beginning to annoy the woman, from the constant glares she would send at her shoulder whenever Zack turned to look out over the beach and into the salty water. "Only you would find that intriguing, Zackary."

"Pshht; liar. Any guy would want that. Seriously." Zack put his hands up, pointing to a random beach-dweller, who was laying on top of his surfboard. "He'd want one, and so would someone like Barret. If Red was human, he'd want one... granted, I think he's a little too attached to being scratched behind the ears. You get my point, righ'?"

Aeris picked at her teeth with the tip of her nail. "Whatever you say, Zack," her sigh was one that mingled with the thought of defeat. "Anyway—"

Whatever words that were planning on coming out of her mouth stopped and screeched to a halt over the deep sands of Costa del Sol, on the beach of pearly white sand and turquoise blue waters.

"Huh?" Zack shook her arm lightly, trying to see where she was staring off into, her mouth open and a look of fear, _or was that hate?_, in the depths of her eyes. "What are you doin', Aeris? Trying to catch mosquitoes with your mouth will get your tongue bit. That wouldn't be fun, dolly."

A hand shot over his mouth, and in a moment of indigenous confusion, Zack shouted over her hand, which made her clamp her hand down further.

"Shh!" she whispered as she removed her hand from Zack's mouth. "I think I just saw someone looking over here, and it's wearing a lab-coat."

_Lab coat? What kind of idiot would wear a lab coat to the beach, where it's bound to get all dirty and grainy? Lab coats aren't even hot. They make you sweaty and gross, but not hot. Oh, no. _Zack could see the outline of the man with the women in bikini's that were under the deep blue and while umbrella blocked out the sun. One of the women was serving the labcoat-clad man a drink from a coconut.

"Where's Cloud?" Zack whispered, his eyes never leaving Hojo.

Aeris's eyes darted around, Zack could tell from his peripheral vision, but in his own line of sight there was no shock of blonde spiky hair.

"He's over by the ice cream counter, with Red." Aeris jutted her thumb to an area nearly a hundred feet away, where the only thing visible was Red's deep red flaming hair, which was attracting many stares. He was under the shade with Cloud, eating an ice cream cone from the human's hand.

"Good." Zack stood on the blanket and pulled up Aeris with him, who only gave a minor and somewhat embarrassed laugh. That was until Zack began to drag her with him toward the bimbos and their scantly-clad clothing with their coconuts and evil and manipulative scientists.

If Zack would have thought for the briefest of moments, he would have sat back down in the sand for a minute, picked up all of their belongings and moved them in either direction, but Zack had never been known for planning out things.

Quickly he ran a hand through his tousled hair, feeling the stickiness of the salt and water in his hair, and the sand that was making his scalp itch with a fervor that couldn't be explained or experienced, before taking a step forward. Then another, and another, and another until there wasn't any way he could turn around and leave without drawing any more attention to himself and Aeris.

They had attracted attention from one of the women, who in turn told the greasy-assed, spider-fingered monster that was casually sipping the mix from his cup.

It wouldn't have been so bad, Zack thought as he internally his away the fear that was coursing through his veins like molten lava over the peak of its volcano, if it had been any other look. That particular look, however, was the same one he used while the experiments went on and on. It was the same as the looks as he was injected and cut and bruised. It was the same look that Zack would see on the monster's face when Hojo would glance his beady eyes toward Cloud.

But Cloud wasn't as innocent any more. Neither was he, but that mattered much less.

"Hojo, what the hell are you doing here?" Zack was sure that Cloud was nowhere in sight of the professor. That wouldn't have been a good thing for his mental stability. Something clicked near his feet, and the ex-SOLDIER looked down to see the woman who had been rubbing Hojo's feet pull out a thin needle, filled with dark purple fluid. She seemed at a stand-still, and Zack hoped that Aeris would be able to pull out some materia, if she had any in the little bathing suit that covered her body. Quickly he faced the fact that it was unlikely and if the woman was given the order, then there was little that he could do to stop it.

The man looked up from the coconut and took an obnoxiously loud slurp through the straw. "What does it look like, '_Z_'? I am enjoying the beginning of my retirement; no doubt that you should be pleased with that. Oh, and it's the Ancient." His voice took on a more condescending tone. "Looks like you enjoy following around experiments of mine. I do wonder, though, if you are aware..." he trailed off, a smile of insanity piercing through his sickly features.

"I don't want to know what you are thinking, Professor," Aeris snapped as she pulled out a red materia that was hidden inside of her hair. "But I do know that you really shouldn't be speaking--should never speak again."

"No!" Zack whispered, grabbing Aeris's hand, narrowly avoiding knocking into the woman with the needle. "I need him to talk," he whispered against her cheek.

She shivered against his touch, and Zack straightened back up and locked eyes with the professor, the man of pain and torture.

"What are you doing here, Hojo; no lies."

Hojo sighed as he handed his drink away to another bikini-clad woman, who was fussing over making another in a glass container. Her smile seemed fake, Zack noticed with a hint of disgust. It wouldn't surprise him if they were Hojo's little slaves. Poor things—well, except for the one wielding a dose of something that could possibly kill him.

"So, what's your answer?" Zack asked.

"Intimidating you, '_Z_'. It's a joyous thing, no longer being controlled by those intransigent fools. I am no longer in their jurisdiction, which means that neither are you and your precious little experiment friend. The failure—I was a skeptic, at first, but he has become an enjoyment to my work. I will still receive palimony from Shinra to conduct whatever experiments I wish, well," he let out a danger-sounding cackle, one that made Zack close his eyes and breathe through constricted lungs, "they won't know about my sticky-fingers."

"And you want Cloud."

Hojo clapped his hands together. "A deal, I presume? One for your life and the Ancient's—give me the boy and I'll never touch you, or the ones close to you."

Zack cocked his head back and spit into the professor's eyes with no regard to the world around him. The woman nearby swung her arm, and in a flash a summon was beside Zack and Aeris, red and furred, a god of fire, and it growled out a threat as it pushed the woman back and into Hojo's chair, a fire blooming from its mouth in warning.

"You'll never get him, Hojo," Zack snarled as he grabbed for Aeris's arm again, pulling her against his side as he slowly walked back and away from the scene. Beach-goers near the epicenter of the fight had begun to scream, gathering the attention of the other Avalanche members.

"I won't give him up."

"That is what you say now, Experiment '_Z_'. For now."

* * *

**An interesting chapter, right? Well, I'm sorry about the wait for it, and I know that I should have sent out something last chapter, but I thought that I would be able to handle my workload without having to stop. But, now, tomorrow is the last day of finals, a half day, and then my dad comes in. He'll be here for ten days, but expect another chapter before the end of that, even if I have to chain myself to the floor to do it! **

**Please Review! **


	45. Paling Light

Author Notes; So, here is the next chapter of Tenacity! I'm sorry about the craziness, and I promise that I will get back to you in the reviews! Oh, and to FireofAnubis, I kind of stole that thing in your picture, the quote? I figured that at a certain part it would fit in really well.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Forty Seven: Paling Light

No one spoke. In the haven in Zack's mind, it meant a good thing—no one was hurt, everything was going to be okie-dokie, and there hadn't been a man wanting to trade lives of himself and his girlfriend in the middle of the sand, surrounded by bikini-clad natives. It wasn't true, of course he understood that, even if he muttered under his breath, but there was something more going on. The air seemed to dampen, as if a rain cloud dripped its precipitation onto the ex-SOLDIER's being and caused everyone in the hotel room to lose their voice.

Unnerving didn't even begin to cover it.

Cloud sat near the window, hitting his head against the windowsill and hands folded in his lap. The blonde spikes drooped, conveying the mood of all those around him. It was mood-changing hair, almost.

"So," Tifa sat near Yuffie, who was unnaturally silent, almost passive. The dark-haired woman untied her hair for the third time, Zack noticed as Tifa sent another snapped hair-band to the trash, the thin rubber only making it half-way there. "Hojo is after Cloud and Aeris, Sephiroth is after the world, and Shinra is after us? Is there anyone we haven't already piled into that list, or should I expect at the next stop to be suddenly attacked by tourists and materia-sellers?"

"You'll probably be attacked by materia-sellers the moment you walk out of this hotel," Red growled from his seat near the edge of the bed, where his tail beat upon the post.

Zack looked down. "Why'd you say that?"

Red's tail turned into an arrow, the end pointing directly at Yuffie, who laid down and buried her head into the pillows. "She stole an astronomical amount from them earlier in the day."

A muffled "It was only a few," came from below.

Red snorted and with one swift movement of his tail the bag that lay next to him on the floor toppled over and a hundred balls of different sizes and colors spewed out, all shining brightly in the dull light of the setting sun. It sounded like a thousand twinkling bells, all bouncing off of the wooden floor, and the rays of light shone through, making a myriad of kaleidescope pictures on the surface.

Zack grunted. "Oh, that's just great. Which one of you left her to her own devices for more than fifteen minutes?" No one answered, but Zack hadn't expected one. He looked around the room, at all of the tired and worn faces staring back at him, or staring into him, and something nagged at his insides, trying to worm its way out and into the real world. "Doesn't matter, anyway."

On the other side of the room sitting in the bathroom with the door half open was Barret, who was pulling at the inside of his sailor jacket. On his face there was something close to smugness. He had said something, words that had little meaning or sentiment, and Zack was beginning to think that on occasion, Barret just enjoyed listening to himself speak.

"Whu' can we do 'bout it?"

"Which part?" Aeris sat in the nearby chair, rocking it back and forth. "The part with Yuffie, or Hojo?"

Something was ticking not too far away. Zack noticed the sound, a rally cry to the bored and ignorant, and he focused on it. There wasn't much he could or wanted to do that had contact with the others. Not now, at least. Not at that moment of time, where the world seemed to be flipped on its back, raw and tender belly bared to the hungry wolves.

_Hojo wants Cloud, and there is nothing more terrifying in this world than that man. I would never even think about giving him away, even for my own health. He's my buddy, my closest friend. Sometimes I think he's like another part of me, a little mini-Spiky. _

_But there's a movement, and I feel it in my very marrow, that doesn't want that. I don't get it, but I feel it. _The feeling was something that had been lurking in the shadows since before their arrival in Midgar. When the night was quiet and Cloud was asleep, Zack could almost swear that he could feel a faint breeze against his cheek, a whisper that fell through his mind like sand and a sieve. There probably wasn't anything actually there, thoughts of a mildly insane mind that hadn't properly slept in a few weeks the cause, but it didn't change much.

Zack had never been a deeply religious or devoted man. In his childhood the world was based more on the rituals of the family and the community—bonfire nights and sleeping under the stars to celebrate the warmth of a new year, or candy made from the sweet sap of the bark and the honey made by the bees, which was only given on a birthday. There were no gods then; the only thing in existence was the raw power of nature and its beauty that shone in the firelight or the sweet-soaked fingers.

In his adolescence, the gods he worshiped were mortal men with bodies of rock, lithe like tigers, graceful like butterflies and as poisonous as belladonna. Their faces were implanted and imprinted into Zack's mind from every magazine article and sparring match he had ever seen, their movement fluid like the river. Angeal had been one, the other Sephiroth, and another, one less popular, was Genesis. These three men formed a set of gods for the mind of a soon-to-be warrior.

By his late teenage years, even as he was gripped with the magnetic pull of the gods of war and death, he was pulled into something much more sinister. They were the goddesses of lust and vanity, the gods or futile emotions and one-night stands. Not as common as for others, they still held a major role in Zack's life, the moments of forming beginning with a simple bodily contact.

But was there something out there, a celestial entity that looked down on him and watched and guided as he slept? Was it the working of an overactive imagination thanks to five years spend locked inside of a tank with the only friend he had left screaming? Or, maybe, just maybe, there was something larger than him, looking down at him, playing the puzzle of life with him. Which move should he make? Should he believe in fate calling to him and telling him where to go, where to head to belong?

Zack didn't understand what it was, whatever it was, but there was something pulling him towards Cloud. It would have been foolish to not notice; they would sleep feet apart and in the morning their limbs would be entwined, or they would be not speaking, and in the next moment the ice above their heads was broken into a thousand pieces and nothing was there to stop their voices from reaching one another.

Aeris tapped him on the shoulder, pulling Zack back from the clicking of peace, back into the world where there was still a hundred randomly colored balls of materia scattered across the ground, and Cloud had begun to bang his head on the windowsill just a little louder.

"What is it?" he asked, his violet eyes searching Aeris's, which were filled with an emotion Zack couldn't quite pin-point. Her eyes were large and one of her hands was fiddling with her large braid, which was furling loose at the bottom. It almost seemed like she was nervous, Zack noticed how she stood a little back, and once again he wondered how long he had zoned out for.

The sun had gone down and the air had turned sharply cold. Cloud still sat below the window, his gaze not moving, and the others a far-off world.

"Where'd the others go?" Zack asked Aeris, who was not given a moment to answer.

"Wanted food, so they went to their rooms to call for pizza," Cloud answered, his voice ecumenic.

The ex-SOLDIER looked out the window of the hotel, the last traces of the sun gone from the sky, the moon rising up over the water. "I see..."

"The sky," Cloud added before Aeris took Zack's hand and lead him out of the door.

* * *

"Hey, where're we going?" Zack asked for the thirteenth time as he followed, legs dragging through the cold sand. The ocean water blew against his face and the salt made his eyes water for a brief moment.

"Just stay with me," she said, leaning down after she pulled off her boots, tying them together and tossing them around her neck. "I just wanted to come out here; let you see." Aeris grabbed the raven-haired man's hand again, leading him off.

The tiny speckles were getting into his eyes and hair, and Zack was pretty sure he had lost part of his body back a few feet, where he had nearly taken a head dive into the hole in the middle of the beach, but he continued on. Aeris, in the moonlight, looked scared, tired. She looked hungry and hurt, and whatever she wanted Zack would give without the slightest of thoughts. It wasn't important to him, a trip in the moonlight on the beach, but it seemed to be for her.

Aeris's eyes were frantically running over the ground, as if she was looking for something she lost. This continued for nearly a mile from the hotel, deep into the beach in the opposite direction.

After a quick deliberation where Aeris looked twice into the sky, searching for something she could only see, Zack found space in the sand below, where she pulled him down.

"Just sit here," she murmured. Aeris sat between Zack's legs, her dress tickling Zack's boots.

"What are we doing?" the ebony-haired man asked as he rested his head on top of Aeris's brown hair.

The woman sighed and snuggled a bit closer, nudging Zack's arm, which he put around her. There was a piece missing, like a test that skipped a question. "Do you feel like there's something missing between us?"

The sky glittered like diamonds, and Zack looked up and stared. "I'm not sure, Aeris. What are you talking about?" There were so many shapes and sizes in the night sky, all bright and beautiful in their own way. It was a maze of passioned fireflies in the sky of the night.

"If you could catch one of those," Aeris raised her arm into the air, reaching to catch one of the shooting stars that darted across the sky, "would you give it to me?"

Zack nodded.

The next words came out as a whisper, "Or would you it to him?"

"Him who?" Zack squirmed against the cold sand. He didn't enjoy the road the conversation was going down now, one that wasn't all to pleasant and, if anything, completely uncomfortable. Who was she talking about? Why was she talking like that?

Aeris turned her head to his face, their eyes meeting in the dark. "I've always been there for you, you know that. I've cared for you in ways I've never cared for anyone else in this world, and that'll never go away. I've been wondering, Zack," she lifted her hand and slipped it into Zack's hair, "if you feel the same for me, too. Do you?"

There were many things he could have said, all amounting and fabricating into the meaning of 'yes' but Zack's tongue seemed to swell in his mouth and he was mocked by the brightness of the sky. "I..." swallowing uncomfortably, the words choked in his throat, which was constricting tighter and tighter. "I... uh, yeah."

_You are the biggest fucking retard that's ever walked the face of the Planet!_ Zack mentally screamed as Aeris turned back around and slowly removed his hands from where they were a moment before.

"You don't," she swallowed, breathing irregular. "Zack..." She stood up, surrounded in the sand that was cold and forlorn, like the facial expressions that adorned her pretty face. Aeris was pretty, with her thick brown hair and innocent face, filled with knowing eyes, green like the emeralds of the world. They were always looking further than the sky, and she twisted around in front, her dress playing with the winds.

"You don't love me anymore, do you?" Though the words were spoken quietly, almost too quiet to be heard, they were.

Zack tried to get up from the sand, to do anything to calm the woman down, but Aeris raised up her hand. Her eyes were closed. "Zack, why do you do this to me? I can't be like I used to be."

"What are you talking about?"

"I dealt with the women and Reno for so long that I could feel myself breaking apart, and I did it because I loved you, and I knew deep in you, you loved me, too. The planet was always telling me to stick by your side, that I needed to stay next to you because you needed me, more than I ever knew." Aeris took in a shuddering breath and moved her hands over her eyes. There were tears now. "But now, the planet doesn't whisper a word. Our fates have been so intermingled for the past six years, and now it's crashing down on the both of us and I can't stand to watch it again."

A tremor shook the earth. Thousands of fireworks exploded in the sky, their bright colors and smoke blocking out the light of the paling light of the moon and the stars.

"It was fate."

The black-haired man watched them come down, once so high up in the air, but now plummeting to the surface, their light fading out before hitting the water. "So, you never wanted to be with me?" he asked quietly. "You just stayed with me because the planet told you to, whispered in your ear that I needed to be with you?"

"It was fate, Zack," Aeris replied. "You don't play with fate." There were tears. Many of them rolled, and left tracks down her cheeks.

"Fuck _fate_! I've never loved someone as much as I loved you—"

"Loved...that's what we are, now. A past tense for something that belonged in present." After wiping away her tears, Aeris leaned forward, placing her hand's on Zack's. "Zack, I was never meant to be yours. No matter how hard I tried, I always knew that this would be the end. There's nothing I can offer to keep you with me, by my side; not my body, not my heart, nothing. I'd give up my life to keep you happy."

Zack could feel his stomach flip. The world was flipping over and the gunpowder was itching his throat. He wasn't crying—the smoke was bothering his eyes. SOLDIER's didn't cry. You weren't a man if you cried.

_But what about Cloud? He's cried; I've held him when he's cried. He's more of a man then I could ever be._

"He was yours, Zack. it was never supposed to be me, but him."

"Him who?"

"Zack," Aeris sniffled once and composed herself, removing her hand away. It felt cold, now. The presence that had lingered with him was fading into the smoke and the sandy beach, into the cold desolate waters. "Zack, please don't make me say it. You know who."

Zack grabbed his hair, emotions flooding through his system. "I don't know who you're talking about, Aeris! I love you, love! I don't love Reno—I swear it. He was just a fling five years ago; there's nothing of that left."

"I've seen you look at him, Zack. He's so fragile; I think I could break him with a word, sometimes. But other times," her voice swelled, "I think he could climb over a mountain and still be able to stand without so much as breaking a sweat. That's the kind of person you need, and he was destined to be with you."

"But I don't understand what you're talking about," Zack's voice broke. A tidal wave could have washed into the sand and Zack wouldn't have noticed. There was a world folding in on him, a world that was so bright no matter the circumstance, and the tips were fraying and soon it would tumble down.

"He's waiting for you," the brunette's words still made little sense—who was waiting? The fickle fate or destiny? Death? Love? There was no name.

Zack closed his eyes, waiting for him to sink. The fireworks let out one last bang and Zack opened his eyes, seeing Aeris watching. Her green eyes were mirrors to the sky, large pieces of green glass that reflected the beauty of the night, in the last explosion of light.

The sky went dark as the tips of the falling embers caught in a wave.

"I never was sure if I could give you away," Aeris mused, her voice floating through the eerily silent beach. "I thought that I could have, in the beginning, but I never thought I would truly have to say goodbye to you."

"This isn't goodbye."

The Ancient cut him off. "This is goodbye to a relationship that has lasted for longer than it should have. Cloud will understand."

_What does this have to do with Cloud?_

She answered, even though the question never entered the air. "He'll understand because he loves. He loves too much, and he loves you."

As the smoke billowed in the wind, the sky became clearer, and with it the pale moonlight and the stars, which hated the ex-SOLDIER more than words could have explained.

For the first time in far too long, Zack felt the liquid of emotion swell in his eyes. Blinking them back, Zack walked forward with feet that hadn't been there before, walking toward the new fate that Aeris spoke of, one carved out with a flimsy knife and too much patience.

Tears made tracks in the sand, back to the hotel, back to the world, back to the fate that cut strings too early.

* * *

The hotel room was silent. Cloud lay on the mattress, his spiky hair flattened into the pillow. It was like trying to find what didn't belong—Cloud sleeping in a bed, warm with sleep and dreams, or the man standing in the center of the room with tears as his only friend. It was too easy to see who didn't belong, even in the darkness of the night.

He tried to be quiet, but there was no way he could have seen the bags in the middle of the room, or could he have foreseen his eminent tripping. He landed with a thud that rocked the hotel room, and let out a startled yell.

Cloud jumped from the bed, his eyes wide and feral. They stayed that way, Zack noticed as he waved to Cloud from the floor, until the blonde was able to take in the fact that it was not a robber or insane scientist, but a sobbing and broken man.

"It's fine," Zack waved, his words accentuated by a sniffle.

"Are you crying?" Cloud rubbed his eyes with one hand, reaching forward for Zack's hand to help him up off of the floor.

"I'm not crying," Zack said, indigently. "I was outside and there was smoke. Just got some in my eyes; not crying."

Cloud snorted and mumbled a "Whatever,"as he pulled the raven-haired man u from the ground. They clunked heads and Zack let out a whimper.

"Now," the blonde asked, his fingers still laced with Zack's, "why are you bawling your eyes out? Did something happen?"

_Do I tell him or not? Aeris said that, and even though it's not true, I don't want to play that game. Not now, not ever. I love the little Chocobo-head. _

"Just let it go."

"No!" Cloud snapped back, pushing Zack backwards into the bed. The ex-SOLDIER hit with a clunk.

"Chill out Cloudy!" Zack yelled, trying to yank his hand away from Cloud's, but the blonde refused to let go. The room became tense.

Cloud shook his head. "Shut it, Zack." With the other hand Cloud swiftly moved a few tears away. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. We're friends, right?"

Though Zack didn't want to say anything, not about Aeris or her words, or even the basics of the conversation without any details whatsoever, he couldn't deny the warm touch he yearned discretely for.

"Cloud, just don't say anything about this, not now." He laid his head on Cloud's shoulder, which was comforting.

And for the first time, Zack allowed himself to cry again. Like a newborn child exposed to the first light of life, the window stood open in the corner allowing the moon's rays to come inside. They melted with the darkness, and he felt safe.

* * *

**Yep. That's right. I moved things a bit faster because I love you guys, and I wrote this as fast as I could. I've been only able to write at night as of late, so be happy that I haven't really slept for the past few days. I really liked this chapter, and the next one should begin to show the aftermath of Aeris and Zack's little chat. Well, it wasn't little, now was it? **

**Please Review! **


	46. Rio

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Forty Eight: Rio

"_That wasn't what I was talking about, Reno. I mean it: have you ever been with another guy?" _

"_Naw—"_

**Lovers are liars. You should know that the best, right? **

"_Just tell me if you have been with another," he whispered. The voice was silky smooth, a treasure of the Planet. "I just want the truth, and it won't matter to me. I promise." _

"_No, I have not been with another man." _

"_Not even our closest friend? Our beautiful, broken friend?" _

"_Never." _

**He was a liar, too. Zack, you know who, don't you? Between the kisses and fucks, there was something under the surface. **

"_This isn't right," the teenager whispered, clinging harder to Reno's stomach, his ear resting against the red-head's chest, listening to the beating of his heart. "We shouldn't be together, lovers. You and I, we're too close; too, too close." _

_  
"Shh, everything'll be a-okay." _

**You don't understand, little one, puppy. Everything isn't what it seems. **

_Their bodies were melted together, the hot musk of passion surrounding them. It didn't matter if it was forbidden, that their promises were slaughtered in the heat of the morning. This was something that nothing could hold back—something that was needed. He was broken, and the other had to fix it, had to try. _

_The silver-haired man wished, however, that the arms surrounding his body, the body he was making love to, was another. One more fragile, with a beautiful kimono wrapped around their legs, a sweet smell of the sakura blooms and royalty engulfing them. A lithe body, one with large smoky eyes and the tell-tale sign of virginity and innocence. _

_One that he had taken._

_He wanted it back, the love, the passion, but the body he was inside wasn't right. Too much muscle and not enough baby-fat. The eyes, dark blue like the sea, weren't the right ones._

_They weren't like the roaring sky. _

**Innocence is beautiful, don't you think? Like our friend, who has his arms wrapped around you. He's beautiful, isn't he? You want to touch him, to make love to him, to wipe all of those feelings of regret and remorse away, don't you? Zack, I know what you want. **

But how? How?

**Because I am you. Wake up and see the new day. **

* * *

There were two hands around Zack's waist and a forehead against his shoulder. There was also something wet seeping through his shirt, and after blinking twice, Zack could see that Cloud had drooled over his shoulder.

"That's gross," the ex-SOLDIER murmured as he wiped his hand against his eyes and wiggled in the bed, hoping that his movement would wake the blonde slobbering teenager that had camped out next to him. "Come on, wake up," he grumbled.

No answer came.

After two minutes of pushing at the blonde to either let go of him or wake with no response, Zack laid back against the bed and sighed. Cloud's arms were like chains around him. Warm as they were, Zack couldn't help but feel a little bit uncomfortable. After Aeris's words, what was he supposed to think? Why had she left him with nothing but a name?

Cloud snored lightly, a thin noise that Zack nearly ignored, thinking it was just the wind against his ear. What importance did Cloud have in the entire situation? Why had Aeris spoken of him? Why did she have to leave more than one question unanswered, a rock unturned, without giving so much as a good clue? Why had she needed to leave with such ambiguity?

Why did she leave him?

Zack sniffled, holding himself around the waist with his own hands, folding on top of Cloud's. He remembered. Last night, with the fireworks dancing above their heads, the water as imposing as a storm promising destruction in its wake, Aeris had left him there. Waiting. Crying. Breaking.

_I don't want to start that up again,_ Zack thought as he wiped his face on the pillow residing below his head. Cloud has seen him cry; nothing could have stopped the rush of tears, the pounding and breaking of his heart. But Aeris had said things, some which didn't make any sense. Questions and more questions, that was all that was left of their romance. Six years. Six years of love, five years of captivity and worry, one year of togetherness, and one night to destroy everything.

The white dress in her closet wouldn't mean anything, anymore. The folds would crisp with age, the coloring, so pure white as Cloud had described, would turn yellow with time, and the small blue flowers would wilt into ash.

Tears were on his face, dribbling down into his hair. There was nothing he could do.

"Cloud?" Zack asked, turning his head a little to the side. The boy had made a sound, and Zack thought that perhaps he had begun to wake. "I don't know what's going on, Cloudy-boy. Everything happened so fast, like a flash and the entire world was different. She left me, you know. Aeris told me last night that she didn't want to be with me anymore. Guess I haven't been a good boyfriend, eh?"

No response came, but now Zack understood the beauty of silence. There was no judgment—just quiet acceptance.

"She said that fate didn't want us to be together," he snorted. "What kind of fate doesn't want people to be happy? Shouldn't that be what every fate wants? Babies and marriage and happiness? Why doesn't anything good ever happen to me?"

Zack nearly fell out of bed when the arms around him shifted and Cloud groggily answered, moving his face from the wet spot on the shirt. "She left you?" his voice was incredulous, tingles with something Zack couldn't understand. Hope? "Did you think that maybe there are good things happening, but you just can't understand them right now?"

"What good will come from getting left behind, Cloud? You've never had a relationship, have you?"

"You know what?" the warm arms untangled and Cloud slipped from the bed. His voice held ice. "No, I haven't been with anyone. You're laying here blubbering about how sad you are, and I even let you cry on me! I'm trying to help here, and you just don't want help. You want to hear yourself crying because you think it'll help; it won't, Zack."

Zack noticed Cloud's nostrils flaring, the anger that pulsed off him in waves. He was too young to understand, too alone to feel what he felt. And Aeris, she said that Cloud loved too much and loved him... was is even true? Why would Cloud love him, an ex-SOLDIER with a girlfriend and a personality fit for a child.

Nothing was making sense, and Zack could feel his head spinning around in circles. "I'm sorry, but I don't think you understand."

"I understand better than you do, Zack. You need to accept it; the two of you weren't meant to be together in the end. Zack," Cloud leaned back onto the bed and put his hand on his wet, saliva-soaked shoulder, "you can't sit here and mourn. We have to go. Life isn't supposed to be spent moping, especially when the two of us need to get moving."

"But, still..."

Cloud put his left hand over the ebony-haired man's mouth. "Shut up, Zack. Just listen to me; now isn't the time for this. We already took a day off, and you just need to let it sink into your head. This may be just a panic excuse—you haven't talked to her today, have you?"

"No," Zack said. They had spoken last night, and that was that. He didn't expect anything else to be said about the situation. It had happened and that was that. Wasn't that what Cloud meant?

"Well..." The blonde shook his head wearily. His blue eyes seemed to be tired; it didn't suit him. Cloud wasn't supposed to mope. He was supposed to be cheerful, more cheerful than himself at the moment. No one had broken up with him. "Then you don't know if she's changed her mind, now do you? Get up, get dressed, and make yourself look presentable. Your breath reeks, by the way."

Zack lifted his hand to his mouth and breathed into it. Cloud was right.

"And I'll go see if everyone else is up."

Cloud left him there, in the hotel room, with nothing to go off of. Aeris had been wrong, hadn't she?

* * *

Zack mourned for the lack of a holiday. Already a few miles away from the city, the hot sun beating down on everyone (even if he himself couldn't feel the fluctuation of the weather), he already wanted to be back on the beach, one which didn't house an insane scientist, preferably.

Barret had taken up the spot next to Zack, nudging him with his gunarm every mile or so, pointing out toward a pack of wolves or a magical bird with talons the size of the Buster Sword. Nothing had attacked yet; it confused the black man, who had never seen monsters act so peculiar.

"Look," Zack laid his hand on his pikes, ruffling them. "That's the fourth Grangalan that's passed us without bothering to attack. Just give it up, Barret. Chalk it up to the heat—they don't want trouble and I don't want to start any. Agreed?"

The two had lagged behind the rest of the party, Red out scouting a few yards in front. Now, however, the beast's red hair and fire tail shimmered in the distance, a pinprick in the scorching heat and the green trails. The group decided to stick away from the roads; the Turks were on the lookout, as well as Hojo. It was easier to trek across molten lava than go back to the Nibelheim labs. It was so cold there that even Zack could feel it.

"You's jus' don't wanna fight cuz' you an' Aeris are fightin'," Barret said. He switched the safety back on. "Oh yeah," he answered Zack's unasked question—he imagined that his face had said al lthat was needed. "I know 'bout it. Aeris ain't all buttery and you's lookin' like you need ta kill sumthin'. I'm right, righ'?"

Zack caught himself before he nodded and crunched his hands together. Now that Barret had mentioned it, Zack did want to do something, break something, scream something obscene and not a person would say anything. But life didn't work like that, and nothing would happen. There was no option but to suck it up and look out into the world. He couldn't complain, couldn't scream, couldn't anything. This was something that went further than anyone could even begin to understand. What was Zack going to do after getting rid of Sephiroth? Die, become a martyr? He didn't want that; he needed to live, to keep his promises. Even if those who he had made the promises didn't want them, he would keep them. Zack was a hero, wanted to be a hero. Heroes always ended up alone, in the end.

"That's a confusing statement. If I was fighting with Aeris, which I'm not, wouldn't I want to fight to get out frustration? That's where you're wrong about me, Barret. You just don't get me."

But he did get him, Zack knew, so he denied it. There wasn't any point or reason For Barret to understand.

"Oh yeah, I've been wanting to ask you something, and I keep forgetting," Zack took a few steps forward and motioned for Barret to follow. "We need to hurry up before they completely lose track of us," the ex-SOLDIER stated as he made a sweeping motion.

"Whut's you wanna ask me?" Barret questioned, his eyes narrowing.

Zack shrugged. "Was about Marlene."

If Barret's face could have paled, it would have. "Whut 'bout her?"

"Well," Zack picked at his nails, "did you kidnap her? Pick her up off of the streets? Or does she have a skin condition?"

"She's mah daughter and that's it. Don't ask me shi' like that. That's my baby. And you keep Chocobo-head away from her, got it?"

"Huh? What did Cloud do?"

Barret mumbled something under his breath. When Zack asked for him to repeat whatever it was, the man shot him a dirty look. "She thinks she's gunna marry him."

Zack nearly swallowed his tongue. "Like that freaking girl in Junon?"

"Mah Marlene's prettier than that fisherman's daughter. She got a chance, but that don't mean that I want that ta happen."

"He's twenty one, you know. I don't think he'd want your daughter, no matter how pretty she is and will become." Zack was barely able to hold in his tears of mirth. For the first time in twenty-four hour Zack had a good reason to laugh. And he did.

* * *

Zack didn't know where they were. There was a river, deep as Cloud's eyes running to the left, while on the right there was more space, empty and led to nothing but more emptiness.

"I guess we just keep following the river." Zack wiped his hands on his pants, which were dripping from the fresh water. It tasted like bliss on his parched tongue, clean and sharp. He had chlorine tablets but decided not to ruin the taste. Bacteria be damned-- they were all so very thirsty, and there was no better or cleaner water for miles.

"Is there a town around here?" Tifa asked as she wiped a bit of water from her brow. Her face was tanning, something that made her skin seem to glow. She looked happy.

"No clue; I think so, but I could be wrong," the ex-SOLDIER said, looking around. "There's a good chance of it. Water, fertile land and food supplies. I'd probably say for sure, except for the fact that the soil doesn't seem to have any tracks in it."

"Ah, okay." Tifa smiled, pulling at her hair with a small tune on her lips.

The ex-SOLDIER clucked his tongue."What has you so happy? Get a good night of sleep? Get a tan? Molest the poolboy at the hotel?"

Surprisingly, rather than receiving a smack to the head in response, Tifa shook her head and smiled. "No. Cloud and I had a nice conversation. I guess there might be hope."

"Hope for what?"

Tifa lost her smile. "Zack," she warned, her head shaking, "please don't do anything. Really; I consider you a friend, and we've already spoken of it. I don't want to make this a bad day. Just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"So I can't molest the poolboy?"

"No, Zack. You can't."

* * *

Rio was a small fishing town reserved in the north-east of Costa del Sol, where the fish were plentiful and the air fresh with the scent of corn and water. A river, the one that Zack and the others had followed up, ran straight through. On one side was the stores and the industry, so much cleaner than Midgar, except for the fish heads and bones that littered the soil, used for fertilizer. On the other were the homes, cute and story-like, with small shutters to cover the windows and large gardens. It reminded Zack of home, and his body ached with sadness.

It was a busy afternoon; the fishing seemed to be done, most of the leather-skinned men, too much time out in the sun, their hands always holding on to a fishing rod or nets made out of harsh materials, cutting open their prizes of the day. Zack noticed, as far away as she could get, that Aeris was wincing in pain every time one of the men weathered by water and age cut into one of the still-moving fish. She was going to vomit, Zack could nearly smell it on the wind.

They traveled, men tipping their hats with respect, children running around with fish bones in their hands for weapons, using the palms of their other hand to be their shield. Zack remembered when that was him. He would stay out until far after the sun had gone down, running with mirth, heart pumping to the feeling of his legs pounding against the dirt, climbing into the trees to hide from his school friends.

One ran straight between Zack's legs, laughing and giggling. He couldn't have been older than four.

"Oh, sonny-boy, don't run 'round 'tween the nice folk's legs," he older man smiled, reaching out one hand to Zack, the other running through the small boy's shock of red hair. "We're just a nice fishin' town. Don't want my boy getting' his head squished. Name's Paul Heusen, and this here's Johnny. Now," Paul spoke to the little boy, whose head was staring up with adoration, "why don't you go find your mama? Go cross the bridge."

But Zack's head was in another place. Heusen? Hadn't he known someone with that name? It was so long ago, and there had been so many names and faces, but that one rang out. Heusen?

"An' you might be?"

Zack shook his head. "Sorry 'bout that. The name's Zack Fair, sir." He started to name off the others, but stopped when he noticed the man's calculating brown eyes staring into him. "Is there something wrong?"

"You were in Shinra," the man stated, not leaving any room for an answer. "You knew my son, didn't you? You look a little young, but it was about eight years ago. His name was Jamie. Did you know anything about him?"

_Jamie? I remember him. On the train, the first day. He wanted to be a Turk like his cousin, I think. He had brown hair and wold joke about how he always wanted to dye it red. Said the color ran in his family. Did he die? Did he make it to Turk? Did he get addicted to MM? I just can't remember. He shared a room with the rest of the grunts for a while, but then he switched out when he made apprentice. Who was he an apprentice to?_

Zack answered slowly, "I remember a boy names Jamie. Said he came from here, big brown eyes and brown hair." The fisherman's eyes looked like they would explode. "I met him on the first day."

"How is he? He never wrote home and me and my wife worried so. Did he ever make it to anything? I remember I hit him when he tried to leave," the weathered face grieved, and Zack could see the pain lines etched into his skin. There were so many of them, so deep, like scars that would never fade.

"I couldn't tell you," Zack answered. "I left SOLDIER about five years ago. If he made it further, I couldn't tell. He was a strong-willed guy."

Paul nodded. "He never wanted ta be a fisherman. Wanted lights that were electric, not the candles we have here. Never accepted the way of them Shinra. Never came knockin' at our doors, either. But his cousin, no good," the man spat on the ground, "puttin' ideas inta his head; crazy illusions of grandeur an' women and men. My boy was a good one, straight as an arrow, but that damn cousin o' his, damn Turk."

_Red hair. Crimson and wild, like that boy. Reno?_

"What about his cousin?" Zack turned to see who had asked the question. It was Cloud, whose eyes were narrowed. It seemed that he had made the subtle connection. Aeris seemed to, as well.

"Well, why don't you come inta my shop, I'll pull up a couple a chairs an' tell ya."

* * *

The room smelled of decaying fish. The candle-light was so strange compared to the neon lights of other places, industrialized by Shinra. It set the room with an eerie glow, even though the windows were opened wide.

Paul sat still in a rocking chair, rocking back and forth at the same pace as his clock's ticking. Zack noticed the objects was about a third of a second off.

"Boy was a troublemaker all his life; killed the cat, lit the kitchen on fire, drove me an' my wife insane with grief. Always hanging in trees and running to put his hands up the skirts of women. We took 'im in, you see. His mama, my wife's sister, wasn't all right in the head. Got herself with child at sixteen behind the pub. Didn't know the man, I'd say, but I don't hold it 'gainst her. Baby came nine months later an' she couldn't take care of it. Left not two weeks after the boy was born, and me an my wife took good care of him. Didn't wanna be fisherman either.

"Ran away when he was seventeen, got into a gang in Midgar. Don't know what that year was like, but he got outta it. Sometimes I wish he didn't, bless my poor soul. My wife cried a lot for him, and even more when our boy ran. We waited for a letter, a sign, anythin', but it didn't come for two years. He wrote home to my boy, Jamie. He always liked Jamie, one of the reason why he left, I like ta think, but that'll come later.

"Said that the Turks accepted him; didn't need to go through the grunt work or nuthin'. Jamie was so proud. I 'member him askin' if he could go inta Shinra, but I told him no. Gave him a taste of what Shinra did to Crondrel. Didn't like the stories, said his good ol' cousin wouldn't do things like that, but I knew he knew better. Didn't matter. The monster already corrupted him.

"Boy would get letters at all times of the day. I remember once when he got one, urgent the mailman said, and it was jus' bullshi'. I read through most of 'em, nuthin' too bad, but I knew there were some that woulda made my skin crawl. Hid them real good. Never found 'em, even after Jamie left. But there were always letters. I can't recall how many I went through. Always askin' how home was, if he needed to come and get Jamie, save him from dyin' o' boredom. They'd always been close.

"Then, one night about two years later, I heard sumthin' at the window. Didn't know what it was until I hear the moanin'. Cousins! I broke the damn door down and grabbed that lil' rat by the hair and threw him offa my boy. Damage had already been done an' I couldn't do nuthin' 'bout the blood on the sheets. Little shit ran when I grabbed the gun in my room, tryin' ta explain all the way out that there was nuthin' going on, even with his pants 'round his ankles. Woulda killed him if Jamie hadn't gotten in the way.

"Beat him senseless, thinkin' that it would get that weirdness his cousin got in his out. My boy wasn't doin' such things with another, older guy who was his cousin! Wasn't going to be joinin' Shinra, wasn't going to get a promised job in the Turks, even if his shit cousin was the fuckin' president of the company! My boy wasn't lovin' no piss poor excuse for a human, with his head not screwed on right and those damn tattoos. Gaia I hated those things. Made him ever more of a punk.

"He ran away the next day. I didn't think anything about his cousin because a bunch of the boys went missin' telling their mama's that they were going out a few miles with a group and camping. I figured he wanted to be with his friends, even though I found him the night before and grounded him.

"None of the boys came back. Took me a day to notice what that fuckin' Turk had been doing—recruitin'. Finding his company a bunch o' pliable kids an' fuckin' 'em 'til they wanted ta come with him. He manipulated my boy, who had too big of a heart. My boy loved too much, fell in love with his punk cousin an' I haven't seen him since."

The man took in a breath a wiped at his eyes. There were tears, Zack noticed with a hint of uncertainty. A man so weathered didn't look right with tears down his face.

"What was his cousin's name?"

"Took his mama's last name. Didn't want mine. Thought I wasn't good enough. Was Sinclair—fittin' for a boy who was evil, don't you think? Name was Reno. Last thing his mama said before she ran off. Coulda been a good boy, if only he tried."

Zack felt his mouth dry and stomach retch.

"_Naw… but, I'm willing to try." _

* * *

**Surprised? I'm not. This has been a long time in the making. I'm finally starting to make everything! I'm so happy! You have no idea how much I love this chapter—there was finally stuff about Reno's life before becoming a Turk. And yes, before you ask, Reno was a naughty little thing, lying to Zack, but there are reasons. Also, drop by my profile and take the new poll! I wanna know what you think Of reno's certain love. **

**Please Review and tell me what you thought of our shocking little twist! **


	47. The Trail

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Forty Nine: The Trail

There was nothing he could say. The room stayed silent, his name still lingering in the air. How could the fisherman be right? Reno? Not Zack's Reno... right? But how many men named Reno Sinclair worked right under Tseng? There wasn't any other person it could have been. He should have know, the ex-SOLDIER thought bitterly, that the red-head was a liar.

"Did you know Sinclair?" Paul questioned. There was a look of understanding on his weathered face, which had withstood too many wars of the heart.

Zack didn't know how to answer. Would he tell the truth? 'Yes, and I let him fuck me and I fucked him for over a year.' didn't sound right on the ebony-haired man's lips. Or, he could be basic, with a mumbled 'A long time ago," or perhaps even pretend not to know... but it seemed too hard, too painful to pretend like he didn't know.

"Yeah," he conceded, "I knew him. Never saw him with Jamie though. Haven't seen him in a long time, either. A long, long time."

No one dared to correct him, even with the blatant lies. Barret stared off at him for a brief moment, his mouth open a few inches. There were words on his tongue, but Zack couldn't hear them. They weren't out in the air, and for a moment Zack hoped that they wouldn't. He hoped that Barret would understand that at this moment, in the haunting store, surrounded by the scent of fish carcasses and burning candle wicks. There was no way he could say anything about Reno.

The bastard.

* * *

"Why did you lie to that man?" Red asked, looking out of his one good eye. It sparkled with intelligence, and for the first time since Zack had known the red-furred beast, confusion. He didn't seem to understand what was going on. "Zackary, why did you not tell that man that we have seen Reno? It is his flesh."

Zack snorted and looked around the empty inn room. The others were gone. He didn't care where they were, for once. Red, however, hadn't gone out wherever the others had left to; he needed peace, tranquility, silence. Neither of those three things could he get when Yuffie was around.

Red smacked him with his tail.

"Ouch." Zack rubbed his head. "Don't know why you're bothering me, Red. Why didn't you go off with the others and leave me alone? I think I need to be alone, anyway."

"What you want means little to me, Zackary."

"Quit using my name so much. It's annoying. And I kinda figured. Don't know what I did to make everyone all angry today. It was just a little lie."

Red sneered, something truly horrifying. The razor sharp teeth in his mouth jutted out a little, and he slapped his tail once again against Zack's head.

The raven-haired man didn't bother moving; it wasn't hitting him hard enough to be painful. Just annoying. "Look," Zack said as Red closed his mouth, the enemies inside fading from sight, though their presence still lingered, "I just needed to, okay? The room was getting too hot—"

"The room was colder than Icicle Inn, Zackary. He had two ice materia's in the vents of the store."

_Shit, figured that one wouldn't work all too much. _"And we would have been stuck in there, me explaining that I knew Reno. It's not that big of a deal—"

"If you had seen your face, then you would understand my concern."

_Concern? What's there to be concerned about? _

Red nodded. "Yes, you were concerned. I must, however applaud you, if I had hands. For someone who wears his heart on his sleeve, you managed to confuse both your comrades as well as that man. Granted, those who did notice your concern are more adapt to human emotions. Barret and Yuffie, however, are not."

"Well, don't you just love them," Zack replied scathingly. "They're smart."

"It has nothing to do with smarts, but with observation skills. Theirs do not parry with my own."

_Well, someone's got a big head. _

"Deservingly so, Zackary Fair. I have lived a long time, seen many things. Not as long as my grandfather, but enough time to see when someone is lying for their one benefit. Now, I do not care for or about your sexual advances toward the same sex."

Zack felt his eyes open wide, his body subconsciously seizing up. "W—what are you talking about? Me? Sex with who? I thought I was dating Aeris."

"But," Red continued, "lying is rather childish. I would dare say that I loathe liars; do you understand? Now, I know that you had a sexual relationship with the red-haired Turk and wish to hide it, but why hide that you knew him? The most you could have said was that you had seen Sinclair a few days ago. Said that he was after us—I believe that man would have given you refuge, or perhaps even protection from the village. They do not seem fond of Shinra or their ways, which could have been an advantage to us."

"I hadn't thought of that."

Red agreed. "It is quite obvious that you were oblivious to that knowledge, Zackary, but it doesn't matter in the end. You lost us an opportunity, and lied in the same breath. I understand why you would not want Cloud to know, but he will be most suspicious of you and your mouth. I would be sure to expect questions on the category, and soon."

"Why wouldn't I want to tell Cloud?" the ex-SOLDIER asked, grabbing at his head in confusion. "How 'bout 'why I wouldn't want to tell Aeris, because I was dating her', or 'why I wouldn't tell Yuffie, because she's already attempting to sneak aphrodisiacs into my soup and then lock me in a room with Cloud', or even 'why I wouldn't tell Barret, because he thinks that Shinra SOLDIERs are already more fucked up and need to be killed on spot'? Why not them, and only Cloud?"

The room felt like it was spinning around in circles, again and again, the ceiling and the pinprick of black just looping over and over again. Everything was happening again. Zack had screwed something up for his comrades again. He forgot how much he had loved Reno again. Or how much he loved Aeris again.

And again he was falling into a black abyss, with Red's voice ringing like a wedding march or a funeral dirge.

"You wouldn't want him to know because you're in love with him. Even I, half blind, can see it."

* * *

Zack didn't speak. Even fifteen minutes later, Red sitting on the carpet staring off into the shady area where a small mouse would stick its head out of the hole in the wall, Zack couldn't properly form words about anything.

"It would be best if you swallowed," the beast chided, flicking his tongue over his nose to wet it. It shimmered and the liquid just seemed to be sucked in, disappearing. He did it again, and Zack just stared and swallowed. "Do you want to know why I said that, don't you?"

"Shock value?" he answered without pausing. Why was his mouth feeling so dry.

"Not exactly. You must learn how to see what is before your eyes. Who you want to care for, and who will care for you."

The words made sense, sure, but the violet-eyed man just rolled his eyes into the back of his head. "Look," Zack laid his head against the pillow, trying to erase Red's words, "you and I haven't been through what Aeris and I, or Cloud and myself have been through. Now," Zack shook his head, "I know you've been through a lot of unpleasant shit, like me and Cloud."

"I do not care to share that with you at this time."

"Understood, but I want to say something." Even with his eyes shut Zack could feel the beast's piercing gaze. "Clou. and I went through too much for us ever to be together. I don't get why everyone is always talking about me and him ending up together—Aeris did it, too. And look at how that went—she left me, by the way." Zack heard a grunt of knowledge. "Guess that doesn't surprise you,"

Red spoke with conviction. "No, it does not. She is a Cetra, speaks with the Planet, hears the Planet, lives by the rule of the Planet. The Planet does not see the two of you together, but apart."

_Huh?_ Zack sat up and opened his eyes, narrowing them at Red. "Why would you say that, Red? I mean, the Planet of all things can't dictate anyone's lives—"

"Yes, it can, has, and will continue to do so. Aeris is one with the Planet, and I go with her."

"How are you one with the Planet? Did you eat dirt as a puppy? Get it lodged in your brain and now you think that every time you hear the crunching in your teeth..." Zack hadn't even noticed that he had stood up.

Red looked at him blankly. "I hear the Planet because I am the son of her. My home resides in the deepest canyon, where I can hear the wind blow and the Planet scream; I am no fool, and neither are you." He had risen from his place on the floor, Zack noticed as he sat down, grabbing his knees. "We do not see the Planet in the same way—I see her as a breathing, beautiful flower, while you see her as a ball of dirt with an atmosphere."

There was no way of stating that red's comments were false—it was the truth. Zack had no connection to the planet, no structure around a birth right. He was just one of her inhabitants. He worshipped her as a child, like any Gongagan did... but she was still just the planet. What made it real was what happened on its top soil.

"But you are more than that, Zackary. You were meant to do things no other human could possibly do. I see it in your eyes, in your stance. Minerva has invested a great deal into you, and your life. She has invested much into you and Cloud. Your souls." He made a movement with his tail, seeming to swipe at the mouse, which had abandoned its post and traveled forward.

"Why are you telling me this? Did Aeris tell you that I needed to have more than one person telling me that Cloud's my shining star, or whatever crap you're trying to feed me?"

"No," Red said slowly,. "I tell you this because I believe that you are compromising your situation. By ignoring facts, you are making your life, as well as those around you, much more difficult. I will leave once I am home, but it would be a fair deal for me to trade some wisdom with you."

"Compromising the situation? How did I 'compromise' the situation? For all that's Holy—"

Red spoke through Zack's words, "You are compromising the situation because you are the leader. You have people mindlessly tracking after you, and leaving gapes in your defense because you can not face reality."

* * *

The next morning Zack woke up alone, on the floor. When Cloud had crawled into bed next to him the night before, Zack had pushed himself to the furthest crevice of the bad. What if Aeris and Red were right? He couldn't and wouldn't be able to sleep next to the twenty-one year old, who still had the face of child, a beautiful and perfectly sculpted angel. Zack had never been that great with waiting—what if his subconscious mind decided that it was tired of waiting for sex—five years of waiting. What if he did something while Cloud was sleeping? He wouldn't be able to live with himself.

_But I'm not interested in Cloud. People are out of their fucking minds; he and I are the closest of friends. I would give my life for him without a second thought. Why would I want to do something to destroy that? _

So, when Cloud was in his deepest sleep, far on the other side of the bed, Zack rolled off, blankets still wrapped around the blonde in the bed. It wasn't comfortable, but comfort mattered less than what could happen. He could do anything, especially if Red cast Berserk on him, which the red-furred beast had threatened. Zack slept on the floor, arms underneath his head and his back against the bedframe.

"What in Holy are you doing on the floor?" Cloud asked, groggily wiping the sleep from his eyes.

Zack looked up, yawned and picked at his own eyes for a moment, ridding of the hard specks from his eyes. "Oh, just sleeping."

"Why did you sleep down there? Did I push you off, or something?" Cloud leaned over the bed and reached out his hand, waiting for Zack to take it. "Did I kick you?"

"Free will, buddy," Zack said as he waved Cloud's hand away. "Don't worry about me. The others got up a little while ago, I think." To check, Zack looked below the other beds for shoes. None were present, and there was no tail waving below Barret's. "Stomped off loud enough to wake the living dead."

"So they were able to wake you up?" Cloud rolled out of bed on the other side, picking at his nail. "Doesn't matter, anyway."

The ex-SOLDIER scoffed. "Like it doesn't, Chocobo-head. Ahh," stretching out his muscles, the ebony-haired man curved his back and used his feet to push himself off of the ground. He popped into the air, his back doing the same. "That felt really nice."

Cloud cocked his head. "That's good for you," he replied, his voice monotonous. "But you look as though a chocobo stepped on you, kicked you into the river around here, and then dried you off by flying you a thousand miles per hour into Midgar... repeatedly."

"Wow, you must love me a whole lot if you think so many details." Putting his arms behind his head, the man contentedly rubbed at his head with one hand, the other scratching at his neck.

For a moment time seemed to come to a standstill as loud leaned up and pushed around Zack's hair. His scalp felt on fire, like someone was holding a match to his hair. He could even smell the hair burning.

"What's that for?" he asked as he shrugged himself out of the blonde's reach. It made him uncomfortable.

"I like how your hair used to be. Before, when you were happier. It looks sad now, like you're older than you really are."

"I'm twenty-three—" Zack began, but was silenced.

"You look eighteen; try and act eighteen again, and maybe Aeris would understand you a little better." He crossed his arms.

"What are you talking about? What about Aeris?"

Cloud worried his lip. "She said that the two of you weren't getting along real well," the blonde huffed and recrossed his arms, "after your fight. She even said that there wasn't a way that you two were going to get back together. I don't see why not," Cloud said, his eyes darting around. "Did you do anything that would deserve something like a complete dumping? She didn't say what you did, but that it was over. Bam. Done with."

"I don't think all of me wants to be back with her, honestly. I'm not sure why she would do it; she gave me a reason, but it didn't make any sense."

"Oh."

"And she doesn't even want me, anymore," Zack added, bitterly.

Zack felt that the conversation was dead, like the flowers in the church in the slums were bound to be. No one was watering them, and their delicate petals would fall apart and die on the wooden floor. There wasn't a hand of kindness pruning away the dead leaves and buds, so new and more beautiful ones could take their place. It was just a dead, cold and lonely conversation.

"I, uh..." Cloud took a few steps back, stumbling on Zack's boots. They clonked hard against the ground, hard.

"Don't be like that, Cloud."

"But I thought you loved her? The dress, in the closet—she loved you, too."

Something was building up in his chest—he could feel it beating and pulsing and hurting, why it hurt Zack couldn't say, but it burned more than his scalp. "Well, Cloud, sometimes love isn't all that's needed. It's not a magical cure to anything. It just hurts. Remeber that it was you who told me to get over it."

"Pessimist. I figured you were fighting and that you needed to be smacked back into shape."

Zack looked down at his feet, shoulders slouched forward. There was nothing in his eyes. It didn't matter what anyone else said, either. They didn't understand, no matter how brilliant they were. Red, who had probably soaked up the knowledge of a thousand books and drank tea that was blessed by the Planet and ate cookies with his grandfather that Minerva herself made didn't know a damn thing about his feelings. Zack knew that no one, nothing, could control anything about his life—it was his to live out. No one could control it. No one had the power to.

"Do you think that there's a god looking down on us, playing with us? Making us more like ventriloquism dummy dolls? Like the ones that we saw that day in Junon, before everything went to shit and back?" Zack looked up, into Cloud's blue eyes. They really were bright, like stars exploding.

Cloud nodded and shoved his hands into the sleeves of his sleeping shirt. "I remember. They were beautiful—not weird or creepy like the ones that they sold in Nibelheim. I remember you wanted to buy me one with glass eyes."

"Creepy little fucker."

"But," Cloud said, "I don't think that anything is controlling either of us. We're independent. And I don't think anything would willfully give you such a tacky personality."

"You make me blush, snookums." Normally, Zack would have wrapped his arms around the boy and attempted to give him a kiss, just for the fun of it, but instead he cracked a smile.

Cloud, if he had taken notice, didn't say anything on it.

* * *

Two hours later the group was back on the move.

"I don't think we should have stopped for so long," Tifa stated as she hitched the backpack up higher.

Zack pushed a few of the strands of hair out of his face, which had been bothering him since morning. For some reason he hadn't pushed it back the way it had been, but let it hang down in his face, like when he was younger. Cloud had made a good point—even if Zack wasn't in love with him. The trip was making the non-serious guy far too serious for his own liking.

"Well, needed to sleep, eat, shit and get more work. Aeris has six new materia that we need to level up and send over to Corel. The lady said that we were bound to go through the mountains and we could stop in some rusty-ass shack and give some guy a bunch of shit." Zack pointed to the extra knapsack strewn across his back, which was supplies and porn, if the ex-SOLDIER knew anything about isolationist packages.

Barret, who had been walking in front of Zack, stopped short in the middle of the densely shrouded area. Zack hadn't been able to stop in time, and had crashed into the man. No great shock came when neither fell.

"What the fuck? Barret, you okay? 'Cause if you are, I think I'm going to have to do some very un-nice things to you."

"Where you say we headin'? Not Corel, Nort' Corel? We ain't goin' there." The black man seemed adament, shaking his head faster than the words were coming out. "Zack, I dealt wit' you bein' a fuckin' no goo', sorry sunovabitch, but I ain't, I re-fuckin'-fuse ta go there."

Tifa laid an arm on the man's shoulder, and Zack took a step back. All he could see was the larger man's back, which was rippling like water in a pond, where an elephant nearby was jumping. Tifa's hand shook.

The rest of the party noticed, and had stopped. Yuffie even sent way a dirty look to Barret, which when ignored was sent to Zack.

"Why isn't the old guy moving? We gotta go-go-go! Hurry it up, ya old farts! Slow pokes!" The girl jumped over another tree branch that hung low, Zack noticing that she had attempted to kick it toward where Red's face was. It snapped back and nearly hit the black-haired rambunctious girl. "Aw!" she yelled when no one followed.

But the attention wasn't on her, for the first time in a long time.

"What's wrong, Barret?" Aeris came up from behind Zack, where she and Cloud had been lingering. She put her right hand on the burly man's shoulder, kneading it. In the other was a Heal materia. The spell was ready on her lips.

"We can't go there. I can't deal wit' 'em. Lookin' at me an' not undastandin'." Barret didn't say anything else, but attempted to turn back around, to head toward Rio.

"Whoa, Buddy. We can't go back there," Zack said, holding his hands up. "It's probably infested with Shinra scum, you know, those guys that you really hate? Well, in your condition I wouldn't want them near you. Now," Zack sent a look to Red, who sniffed at the ground and nudged a log with the tip of his nose, "Red's sniffin' at that dirt and he's a good tracker. What are you smelling?"

"Human," the beast casually replied.

"They ain't no fuckin' human bein's! Muthafuckin', cocksuckin' little shits, alluvem! I shoulda rung that white boy, prissy-assed fucka back two months 'go." The man continued his rant, legs already heading away from where Rio was with Tifa still patting him on the shoulder.

Zack cocked his head to the side. "Aeris?"

It was the first time since they had broken up that they talked. It wasn't as weird as Zack imagined it would have been. There wasn't any pain, either.

"What is it, Zack?" The two continued to watch Tifa and Barret walk forward.

"You didn't hit him with a Healing spell. What did you hit him with?"

Aeris giggled, somewhat forced. "A confusion spell. It should wear off in a few hours if we leave him be, but Tifa thought it would work better than a calming spell. Those can be easily altered."

"Manipulation is the way to go, eh?" Zack shoved his hands into his pockets and stepped over a branch. Cloud, who was a few feet away, held the next branch for the two, before turning back away.

Aeris smiled, only half-covering her lips. "You did something new with your hair."

"No, just something old. Very old."

* * *

**Yay! Chapter is done! This one took a little while because I just couldn't get it to freaking work with me. It didn't want to love me. I thought that it was a bit rushed, but I had a friend read it, and she said that it wasn't rushed to her, so if you think it's rushed, you can blame her. But love her anyway.**

**Please Review! **


	48. Little Birds

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Fifty: Little Birds

No one really wanted the spell to fade off of Barret. Foolish as it was allowing a large man to walk around with a Confusion spell on him, the possibility of him becoming extremely temperamental and violent and excessive a rather horrifying prospect, now that it was there Zack didn't exactly want to take it off.

"He's not being bossy." Cloud tossed his katana into a near by tree, piercing through the center. "I can even laugh without him breathing down my neck or attempting to reprimand me for being short, or rude, or silent." Cloud stated temperamentally. He growled and went to the tree, pulling Seraphina out a little.

"Getting out your aggravations on that poor tree, eh?"

Cloud's blonde eyebrows rose. "Nope," he stated, "look a bit closer."

Zack took a few steps closer toward the tree, his eyes quickly adjusting to the bark and the darkness of the sap which came oozing out of the wound. It was covering the butterfly's wings, crystallizing it in its sticky tomb. The small thing, wings outstretched and pointing up toward the sky, was already dead, its middle still invaded by Cloud's deadly blade. "That's good," the ex-SOLDIER whispered in ill-hidden awe. "That's really, _really_ good."

He reached up his hand to touch the wings that were becoming hard, but the blonde boy snatched his hand away. "Don't touch it," he whispered, voice shrill. The blonde slowly began to slip the sword further out, causing the wound of the tree to cry out more sap.

In the end, as the blue-eyed boy finished his destruction of the poor, yet beautiful butterfly, Zack could see that the rest of the team was already far away, having not noticed that they were nowhere near. He attempted to voice this to Cloud, who turned around and shook his head.

"Wait a moment." Cloud pulled out Shiva; his red materia glittered for a moment before a thin wisp of smoke came bellowing from inside. The summon was still as beautiful and delicate as it had been that day that seemed so long ago, but Zack bit back a snarl. Damn, did he not like the little beast. She didn't like him either, so there was no love or blood lost between the two. Shiva would have bled out ice, if anything.

She narrowed her eyes at Zack, who immediately stuck his tongue out and twirled his fingers in his ears. Shiva, however, didn't do anything, which bothered Zack more than if Cloud had caught him taunting his favorite summon.

"Let's pretend that I can't see you doing that," Cloud said under his breath. "Shiva," he said, switching tones and more importantly, people. "Can you ice that sap?"

Zack felt himself stare at Cloud's back. "Why would you want to do that, Cloudy? I think you'd destroy the tree."

"But..." Cloud's movements were frigid with coldness, of confusion. Zack watched with careful eyes, taking in everything before the blonde nodded. "You're right. Let's go before the group loses us. We're getting close to the mountain; should be there in a few minutes."

"If we catch up," the ex-SOLDIER gave a wry smile. He pointed his thumb to the group. Aeris was standing on a series of tall rocks, waving around her arms. She was like a seagull in the distance.

Cloud shook his head to Shiva. She glared heartily over at Zack, who smirked as he waved his right hand. There seemed to be steam funneling from her mouth as she snapped her fingers together, body turning into mist. "Sorry; she isn't too fond of you."

"If everything liked me, kiddo, I'd be a father twenty times over with at least triple as many wives. I won't even get into how many lovers I'd have—"

Zack was promptly cut off by Cloud's hand smacking into the back of his head. "You perv," the boy snickered, using the hand that had previously struck Zack to cover his mouth and the sounds.

The violet-eyed man scratched his head where he had been hit. "Well, I'm honest. I'm quite the ladies man, and the mans man, if you understand what I'm saying." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. It felt _almost _normal. There wasn't blood between them; they were alright. Zack wouldn't let a few things a couple people (_Only if Red is considered a person, _Zack thought as he waved to Aeris) tell him to act weird around his buddy. It was Cloud.

Red and Aeris would talk about Cloud like he was some sort of important piece of a puzzle that was named Zack. Granted, their words made little sense as a whole, the man understood what they thought. He was in love with Cloud, according to them. But, Zack pondered as he pulled on Cloud's arm as they walked over the uneven surface, there was no way Zack could say anything about it to the other.

_Oh yeah, I'm just going to smile, kiss him and tell him that 'Oh, according to the Planet, we're supposed to be together and create chocobo-butt babies, which isn't even possible by human standards, but we'll try anyway'? How am I supposed to do that; he'd think I was insane, hit me a couple of times and probably threaten me a little bit more. _

Zack closed his eyes. That wasn't his plan. "Oh, hurry those feet up and quit looking at the tree. It's going to be there a hundred years from now; it's not going anywhere. We are, however."

A warm breeze fled across Zack's skin and he could feel Cloud's hand shake.

* * *

There was a man standing near the rocks to the entrance to the Corel Mountains. He was haggard, beard swiping down his chin in a mass of tangles, the hair on his head no better. He stood with his left knee jutting out and when the man took a few steps, he could see that the man favored his right side. A worn traveler, it seemed; nothing more, nothing less.

"Are you alright?" Tifa asked, Zack hearing from the back. She was looking at Aeris next to her, he noticed. "Do you need anything?"

"You're too kind," the man said, his voice humble. "I have passed through the mountains to get to the next town. A shipment, you see," he held out several balls of materia in explanation. "I needed them before the winter breaks. You are too kind."

Yuffie, who was guiding Barret along, dropped her shuriken, making a large banging sound. "Materia..." Zack heard her whisper under her breath, gray eyes growing wide with anticipation.

"Can you go hold Yuffie back?" Zack muttered to Red, who was next to his feet.

The beast looked up, eyes scathing. "I believe that if you want it done, you should do it yourself," he replied.

"Eh, fine, fine. I get it." Zack scratched his head and looked up to the teenage girl. "Hey, Yuffie."

The girl cocked her head away from the materia, shaking her head. "Whuddya want?!"

"Calm down or I'll sic Red on you. I think he's hungry."

Yuffie's eyes skid to Red' going wider than before. "Good doggy, doggy, doggy. I don't taste good, remember?" She held up her hands in a sign of defeat and spared one more look at the prospective victim.

"I said that I wasn't going to do your dirty work."

Zack looked back down to the red-furred beast. "Aw, Red, I wasn't using you. She just doesn't like the thought of getting eaten," the ebony-haired man said. He looked away from the one golden eye backup, Aeris and Tifa handing the wayward traveler some basic supplies, Cloud nearby, his hand on the tip of his sword. Though he couldn't really make out more than the outline of Cloud's face, he could see the hesitation in the blonde's body.

"There was a man," the traveler said as he tucked the thin paper map into his pocket, rustling his feet over the rocks. "Didn't look like he really belonged here; silver hair, long sword, glowing eyes and a black coat. He smelled weird and passed me by without another look. It's not good luck to pass a weary traveler on the road and not inquire about the road ahead."

Zack felt his feet seize up in his boots. Only one man fit that description. There was no mistaking it. Sephiroth had walked these roads.

"About how long ago?" Cloud's voice was terse.

"Eh, day and a half ago. I've been having problems with my knees. Age didn't fare well with me. He kept muttering something under his breath; something about crossing a river to the mountains of mako. I knew he wasn't talking about this mountain, even though we have a mako reactor. He didn't seem interested in this place."

_He's heading toward Nibelheim? Why? _Zack could hear the grinds in the others heads', specifically Tifa's and Cloud's. Tifa didn't know. Cloud didn't know. All Nibelheim was to them was a burned down town, or a home still filled with hope that hadn't seen the destruction. Or, Cloud didn't remember.

Cloud said something of thanks and the man put his hands in his pockets. He wished the party well.

"I guess we know where Sephiroth is heading." Aeris flipped her bangs up, her green eyes tracing over Zack.

The ex-SOLDIER gave a nonchalant grunt. "Guess we do."

The rocks below his feet seemed to become more pronounced. Zack felt each groove, every tiny piece that stuck up, its pointy end a little reminder of how the earth wasn't perfect. The entire mountain was a reminder of it. Everything about the Planet had little rifts in the surface, every town having a blemish to hide.

"It doesn't matter if he goes there." Cloud took his katana out and looked over the cool steel of the blade. His eyes shined against the metal, a perfect mirror to a less perfect world. "All he'll find is a ruined town. Nothing is there anymore, right Zack?"

Zack wanted to swallow his tongue. "Nothing there. I can't remember," he lied.

"Then we better get going." Instead of sheathing his weapon again, Cloud kept it by his side, tip resting a few millimeters away from the rocks.

"Aw! Can't we take a break!? I'm _tiiiiiired_! I want food—water—stuff." Yuffie leaned down to where her shuriken laid on the floor with her legs crossed. She had a large pout on her lips. "Have some candy to munch on?" She was quickly cut off from her further whining by a large surprise.

Barret, who had been otherwise silent, the spell still wearing at him, tripped over the young girl, landing face first into her knees.

"_Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh_!" The teenage twerp screamed, lifting her hands over her head. "_He's trying to suffocate me! Off, off you groady old man! No! Don't put your hands **there**_! _Tifa, help me_!" She was screaming now and Zack could already feel the boulders around him shake from the girl's outburst.

Yet still, Zack had to hold his hands on both sides of his face, mouth open wide as he continued to laugh raucously as Yuffie shook her hands around in the air, kneeing Barret in the face repeatedly. Poor man was so confused he couldn't even see what was hitting him.

"Yuffie—stop before you break something!" Tifa yelled and jumped over Red to tackle the girl down to the rocks. Zack heard a sickening thud and a wail, while Cloud and himself shared a quick peek, laughter in their eyes before dragging Barret off, who whose eyes seemed to have grown even if his pupils had dilated from the hits.

"Whut wuz tha'? Mahmah, don't drop me on da floo'. Hurts," the black man whimpered, so unlike himself.

Zack let out another snort. "Holy, poor guy."

Cloud grunted, pulling with only one hand. The other never strayed from his weapon. "I think he'll need a cure and some bandages. See, he's bleeding." The blonde was right, as there was red splashing down from the older Avalanche member's cut forehead. One of his eyes also seemed to be taped shut by the bruising that was already swelling. "And get Aeris to Confuse him again. He's already coming out of it."

* * *

The mountain in itself wasn't a formidable thing, nor were the monsters, Zack admitted as he trailed across train tracks. They had passed by a mako reactor, the smell of it making those in the party nauseous. They had all spent so much time away that the smell burned in their nostrils like fire spells. Even Barret, newly confused (And for the last time, from Aeris's look and scowl), gave a look of discomfort when they passed into the reek of the reactor. The man had said something, something filled with a moan of what Zack could only call sadness as he continued his course.

Cloud was in the front with Tifa. He had mentioned to Zack that he wanted to go into the front, like a leader would do; he couldn't say anything. It would have been a foolish move to keep him in the back with him, as Red and Aeris kept sending him looks. The black-haired man scowled in distaste. He hadn't done anything wrong. In fact, the man thought as he told Yuffie to quit freezing the tracks and telling Barret to lick them, it was everyone else around him that were losing their minds. Not him.

Cloud stopped moving, and so did the rest of the team behind him.

"Huh?"

"Is that a roller-coaster?" Red asked, tilting his head to the side. "Because if is not, I must inquire about new eyes."

"Nope," Tifa said from a few feet in front. " you're right, it's a roller-coaster**(1). **I came here once when I was younger; the Gold Saucer hadn't been built yet and this was the Corel Theme Park. The town was a flourishing one. Built on coal, it was the main transporter of the minerals and they built a theme park around this area. Thought that it would be the next Condrel. Big sports arenas and amusement parks, all the Shinra money, a little ways from the town. A quaint place, pretty place near the mountains and near the desert."

"What happened?"

"Lez not talk 'bout that, Dyne. Your wifey wanted ya home a couplea hours 'go. We can't bring Marlene there anyways; Shinra. I know, I kno'; I used ta like them, think they're goo', but I don't wan' her there." Barret swayed.

"Let's not talk about it here," Cloud said. His eyes were looking into Aeris's, who was staring at Barret.

"Let's just go!" the woman spoke up, clapping her hands together. "I've never been on a ride before, and even if I'm just walking over it, it'll be a sight! Let's not fall though; some of those beams don't look sturdy—don't jump like that, Yuffie."

Yuffie was bouncing on the wood, swaying her hips around. Zack wondered if she really wanted to take the entire structure down.

Zack laughed before grabbing the kid around the waist, bringing her away from the edge she was dangerously getting close to.

"Ruining you fun, I know," Zack said as he put her down on a stable part of the tracks. "Let's not get carried away and fall over the side. Gaia knows no one here would be bothered by it," he added under his breath.

Aeris on the other side gave him a wide smile.

* * *

A few miles away, looking around at a small camp surrounded by bridges (Zack had noticed a few miles back that the railroad ran below the roller-coaster tracks, and he had to follow the ones underneath), Zack wondered if this was where he was supposed to drop off the packages. They weren't beginning to weigh on him, but they were just nuisances. The man nearly dropped them a few times in exasperation with the rest of his belongings.

The others stopped to rest near a wall as Zack slid down the thin wiring to a small enclosed area. He hoped the man was there because as he went down he saw that Cloud had pulled out some food. _Food._

It was a small place, more like a hut than anything else. There seemed to be no electricity and Zack wondered if the reason there was a bucket hanging over the side, into the somewhat polluted water below was because he had no other water source. It would suck, Zack admitted as he knocked on the thin tin that was held across the opening. He wondered if the man was already growing feelers out of his forehead.

"Yohoo, special delivery for the dude that lives here," Zack yelled in a singsong voice. There was a grunt and the snapping of something before the thin tin was pulled down and placed on the side.

The man looked like he had spent the last few years in a shelter on the traintracks. His clothes were dirty and gashed open and his beard was more wild then the one on the man near the beginning of the trail. His skin was dark brown; Zack wasn't sure which it was from—the dirt or the sun. A few teeth were missing when the man smiled and opened out his arms.

"You got me some stuff, right? I don't carry no gil, but you can have what you like."

"Uh, here." Zack took the bag from his shoulder and handed it over. The man had little trouble with the weight. "Just knock yourself out. I don't need anything, really."

The man opened the bag and whatever was in there made his smile like he had been handed a virgin in sheets of satin. "Oh, if you don't want anything, I'll at least warn you about those damn birds. Don't go near 'em."

_Maybe the time spent alone has gone to the guy's head? Birds and smiles; he needs a shower and to be locked up with a few Honey-Bee girls for a month straight._

"Whatever you say, buddy."

"Keep your eyes open. They see _all_. You'll think 'em cute and innocent, but they'll eat your eyeballs out and their mamma's a beast like her babies."

Zack nodded and backed away, watching the man already fumble with the metal again. "Sure thing. Thanks, buddy."

"Remember that they're watching." The lonely and possibly insane coal miner made a movement to look behind him. "They're everywhere."

* * *

Zack turned back around once the homemade door closed.

Then he heard the screams.

_If they're fucking birds, I'm going to come back here and give the guy my own porn. _

* * *

**Yay! Done! Sweet! Score! Sorry, I had a bit of trouble with this chapter. I liked it, especially the beginning. There was so much important things going on in the beginning that I wanted to cry and tell everyone everything. Seeing as I haven't, that can be taken as a good sign. And now that it is, I'm going to go watch Naruto. I don't really know why, either. Oh, and before I forget: (1): I'm very well aware that it is in fact just a set of railroad tracks, but call it artistic liberty. I hope it doesn't bother any of you too bad. If it does, I'll change it back. And the sentence that it goes with is correct. Tifa says it in a singsong way. **

**Please Review! **


	49. Reverse Two: She Who Walks

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII and its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Reverse Two: She Who Walks

Red laid his head on his paws, looking out over the water. The place smelled faintly of motor-oil and fires, a common scent if the beast thought about it. It had, after all, had once been the metropolis of coal in the western hemisphere. The train tracks, the amusement parks, the world being once again taken over by the Shinra.

He could feel his nose, black and wet, itch from the smell. The heat continued down on Red's nose, and with the smell, so unfamiliar to the beast's senses, he barely resisted the urge to sneeze. Instead he dug his nose into his fur for a moment and then, when no one was looking, licked the tip. It was a disgusting thing that came second-nature and Red could nearly feel the non-existent eyes looking out at him oddly.

Red... it was a terrible nickname, terrible name in general, but the beast accepted it. At least it didn't have a childish tone like 'Buddy', or something demeaning such as 'Creepy' or 'Beastie'. Zack at least held some regard toward his personal opinions and feelings, quite unlike the callous little girl that kept trying to put sugar in his food, or feared that he would bite her.

He was Nanaki, son of the great woman Nanikono, grandson of the well-known and powerful Bugenhagen. He was an intellect; a genius to the field of science, to literature, to mathematics and languages. Nanaki was a proud warrior, the last of his kind, who was doomed from his mate's death. She had been the last child of the Gi tribe, the last living full-blooded one on the earth.

Nanaki was not a full-blooded human or Gi, yet was more powerful than both human and tribe. His father, the red-furred beast felt the taste-buds in his mouth corrode, had been far too powerful for that. Even if he was a coward.

Seto... the very name made Nanaki's pride burn with a hateful lust for vengeance. If he was not dead already, time having passed and wars having been fought, his own child would do the deed. Blood no longer mattered between the two; his father was a forceful man at best, rapist at worst, and no matter the choice he was still the same. Seto the Betrayer. Running, hiding, the coward.

There weren't many memories Nanikono was in; Nanaki could only remember her smile, a beautiful human woman with lips that seemed soft against his nose even when they looked so dry. She had been a mother, a caregiver, a nurturer and then, in the end, a warrior to protect the very life that she had been forced to bring into the world.

His heart swelled at the thought of her, and Nanaki licked his nose again, hidden below his paw. The last thing she had done near the fire was pat her nose to his. Nanikono had looked regal—her thick black hair was tied up, dark eyes staring down at him with love, yet there was a fire deep within her; the fire of war. She had the most beautiful russet skin, he remembered as he looked down to his red fur, and right before she left she placed a small headdress next to him, the feathers the color of her bare neck, of her curved nose, of her thinly clothed feet. The tribal jewelry of the warrior women of Cosmo Canyon glinted off her fingers in the light of the embers. One last look, her hand tucking into her satchel next to her, other reaching for her bow, before she was gone.

There were stories of how she fought until the last of the Gi, the people who had stolen her from her village and pillaged her life, were laying before her. There was no body, however. Nanikono, her beautiful body with long black hair and russet skin, was burned. Her soul could never be free from its chains, according to the Gi legend, with her body scattered into the sea to the south. Her body, along with countless others, were meant to be placed to rest in the heart of their canyons, _her_ canyons.

Hatred. Wars were built around the hatred of one against one. And Avalanche—though their idea was noble, it was a war. Barret fought for hate, as did Aeris and Tifa, Zack and Cloud. Yuffie seemed to be just tagging along for the ride, much like Red (how he hated thinking of this beast as _Red_. Yet, it was all he could think of for a man shamed by the Shinra. He would not truly be Nanaki until he reached his home among the stars of his grandfather's machine, with the cliffs of his mother surrounding him). He would stay until home, though the girl was bound to stay until she and the others descended on the shores of the most western part of the world, where her Wutai resided.

_I will, however, warn Cloud and Zackary as well as the others of the girl's plans involving their vast resources of materia._

Red waved his tail and looked up at Barret, who was sitting next to him, staring off into the space between the water and train tracks. If he was right, that was were the group was heading; Corel.

Cloud was next to the black man, occasionally sending Red glances. _I wonder why? Had Zackary bothered to mention my words to the man, or is there another reason as to why he is staring. _Red could only see out of one eye, but it didn't matter; one eye was enough to see that Cloud was zoning in and out, the pupils of his blue eyes pulsating much like the beating of a human heart.

There has been one lesson Red had learned the best in, he remembered as he looked away, swinging his tail into Barret's boot; it had been about the Planet. She in herself was an interesting thing, a beautiful and heart-wrenching thing to listen to, but with this boy, a man, a contradiction to life, was her main topic. Him and the other ex-Shira worker.

Red could see the path, only illuminated by thin wax candles, leading to the center and he followed it. He forced the others to follow it.

* * *

Barret could feel the haziness in his head, but couldn't bother to care. He couldn't bother to do many things anymore. Sure, he _could_ have fought of the Confusion spell and then he _could _have whooped some white crazy-boy ass, but the fact was that he couldn't be bothered to.

Everything seemed to hurt. His head. His stomach. His feet. His heart, most of all. Never would he mention anything... but that didn't matter.

Barret could already feel the clutches of homesickness on his skin the moment his feet had left the wooden house in the Sector Five slums. His heart was still there, in enemy territory, with his little girl. Marlene; she was getting so big, the man could feel it in his very marrow. She would be five soon.

_I need ta get to a phone an' call her. Don't want her thinkin' Papa don't love 'er. She knows I do; I jus' can't be there when mah big gir' grows up 'nutha year. Want her ta know I'm doin' it all for her. Marlene..._

Barret felt his head drop a little into his chest. He could feel the little girl on his shoulder, begging for another ride, just one more before bed. He could see her eyes, brown and so soft, wide and staring at the entire world, asking him if there were angels. He could smell her hair; it was a light fragrance, like the flowers she always drew. He could hear her words 'Papa, I don't want you to go again.'

The man shook his head to the side, eyes drawing to the little runt-girl. She had done something to him a little while ago. There wasn't a clear memory, but there was a bit of hitting and a head-splitting headache. Barret hadn't had one that bad in a long time, and he hoped he didn't have one again.

But the only thing that kept him from whackin' the little twerp across the head were her eyes. Even if they were a different color, a different shape, they held the wide-eyed innocence that Marlene's did. Kindred eyes...

Barret could have probably broken out of his confused state and throw Yuffie into the water, not knowing if she could swim back to shore, but he just didn't want to. There were a lot of things that had 'could' coupled with them. He could do so many things, but he only wanted to _do_ one.

"Need phone," Barret mumbled, reaching out his hand. "Nee' phone."

The Confusion spell shattered and Barret could feel the warmth of insanity leave him and what was left were a few screams.

* * *

Tifa took a sip from her water bottle, her parched mouth filling with the warm, but still refreshing water. Her feet didn't hurt too much; she had always been a walker. Her feet were used to long walking. However, Tifa poured a bit of the water through her hair, the heat was something she wasn't really accustomed to.

Nibelheim had always been a rather chilly area, residing near the Nibel Mountains. There was a beach hundreds of miles away, but that water was cold. No one went in, anyway. The sun beating down on her head, onto her legs and hands, was something that left her skin uncomfortable. It had been years since she had been in so much sun, and even then the temperature never went over a beautiful seventy degrees. Pleasant weather. This, Tifa thought as she ran her fingers through her tangled tresses, was like being stuck inside of a ball of fire when compared with either Midgar or Nibelheim. Sometimes Tifa wondered if it really still was December.

The bottom was getting long with travel and split ends, so the dark-haired woman turned to the blonde next to her. He wasn't paying attention, Tifa noticed. His face was facing out to where the sun was, a light tan growing on his pale skin. The slight tan didn't make him look odd, but a little different. A little older. A little more grown up.

Tifa had, in the beginning, pretended that his looks hadn't bothered her. He looked like a boy still. Cloud and she had never been truly close with one another, a fault of stupidity on Tifa's part now that she had a real close look at him; he was a man, boy, whatever he wanted to be called, who had something that wasn't there when he was a child. It was strength and power, even if he could still pass for a teenager. The busty woman knew that she should have spoken to him more, now that he was grown up... in age, but not in body.

Cloud had been so strong if he had been able to survive through the horrors like Zack had said he had. It was a bit disappointing, Tifa thought, that Cloud couldn't really understand what he was; he was stronger than he could ever think.

A smile flitted across her mouth before being lost in the expansion on space. It was becoming harder and harder to smile. "Hey, Cloud?" Tifa asked, shaking the silence. It was the first time anyone had spoken since Zack had left.

The man's eyes strayed from where they had been and toward Tifa. She noticed, with a hint of hope, that his eyes became a little more innocent, a little less harsh. "What is it? Tifa?"

Tifa looked down to the hair in her hands and then back up at Cloud. "I was wondering if you could cut this." She held out her hair like a peace offering. "It's getting ratty and..." her voice cut off when Cloud's gloved hands covered her own.

_I'm acting like a schoolgirl with a crush. Still, I never really felt like this for anyone. The last person... it wasn't the same. Cloud's not the same and he's in a league of his own. _

Yet she couldn't deny the feelings that rushed through her when Cloud gave a nod. "Alright, just stay still." He pulled out his katana with one swift movement and before Tifa could blink she could see a few inches of her hair in Cloud's hand.

"That was fast," Tifa said. She could see Cloud hold up the hair and shook it from his hand, allowing it to fall like snow onto the ground next to him. The wind gave a strong blow and instead of falling against him, it fluttered through the sky.

"It's not that hard. As long as you move your wrist like this," he raised his right hand that held his sword, "and move with a diagonal cut," he showed this by moving the sword, "then you can't even see it strike. I was... wasn't... something..."

Tifa let one of her dark eyebrows raise. "Huh, what's that, Cloud? Something the matter?"

The blonde said no. "I just wasn't efficient with some other weapons. I remember shooting something by accident once, but it's blurry. Guess I wasn't good with a gun... but I thought I had been." Cloud put his head in his left hand, the other placing his weapon into his lap. "Everything gets blurry, like a bad photograph. I can't tell if it's just me or the entire world is that way."

The woman looked down at her hands. "I'm sure it'll go away. Maybe you're a little tired."

"Sure."

He didn't believe her, and she didn't either. But, the woman thought as she looked away toward the sky, fingers playing with the bottom of her hair, maybe one day soon he would be able to believe everything she said. Maybe he would curl up next to her in their tent and make love to her; believe that what she felt was real.

Maybe he would believe that there were people in the world who wanted to know everything about him.

* * *

Aeris placed her hands in the dirt and folded her legs. The town was near, but below the town there was something sad, something screaming. There had been blood, so much blood, spilled over their grounds that the feeling made Aeris's heart beat a little slower.

She was a strong woman—there was no denying it. There had been times when her staff and her head kept her from drowning or being murdered on the streets of Midgar, but it didn't mean her connection to the Planet was any less. She had killed a human before, had their blood soak her hands and her heart, but never once had the Planet or her ancestors thought any less of her.

It had been a cold day in Midgar, she remembered as she felt the sun's rays wash over her. She leaned back, fingers still in the dirt, and could almost taste the fear back on her tongue, could almost feel the cold air brush against her red jacket. She moved her feet a little bit and remembered that the gardening boots had once been filled with water from that day of rain. It was so hard for real rain to get into the slums, and all the was left was the discharge from above.

He hadn't been a good man, that much Aeris could remember. Her feet had been going over the ground she walked hundreds of times before, between the church and home. There had been whispers, so faint that she could almost have passed it off for the wind, but it was the earth below her feet. A warning; two men were following after her, one looking at her purse, the other looking at her legs.

Aeris felt her breath turn cold. She was fast, sure, but those two men, the Planet whispered into her ear as she took up a faster pace, were ex-military men. Not of high rank, not good enough to have (to _know_) known Zack, but there was mako in their veins. Even if they came at her with a slight chipper to their step they would have caught her.

_So, drop my purse, throw my flowers and run. Where is Tseng or Reno; they promised that they would come to collect my letter today. They've never once broken a promise to me, even if Reno should hate my guts. He was always so kind, before all of this... they're only a few meters away now, stay calm. Don't look scared, don't allow myself to shake. It's okay, it's alright. I can do this. There's a knife in my left pocket..._

Aeris felt the tickling of breath on her cheek before she could take another step, and without hesitation she dropped her flowers to the ground, and her left hand reaching for the knife in her pocket. They hadn't expected a fight, she noticed, and she quickly slid the blade up. Her hand shook, but she could only feel the adrenaline growing thick in her body. With a quick movement one of the men, the one going for her body rather than money, lunged out at her. She didn't even think as she pulled the knife from her pocket, slicing out.

The other had run.

Aeris could feel herself slipping to her knees in prayer, holding onto the man's hand as he died. Maybe he wanted it, the cool comfort like a mother, or maybe he didn't. Aeris never knew for sure, but she held his hand. Not even a full cure could have helped the man; she had sliced too quick, too deep, too readily.

Reno came a few minutes later, cigarette tucked into his red hair. There was a look on his face, one that Aeris knew but couldn't quite place. He had helped her up, surprisingly, and even got her home. They didn't say a word, but Aeris knew that he and the other Turks cleaned up her mess... the man's body hadn't been found. Even though she would rather have buried the man somewhere, in her garden so that he could he been reborn again in the flowers.

Aeris knew how to kill, she had done it before and if needed, she could do it again. The thought terrified her, left her mouth feeling like it needed to be scrubbed out with metal wool.

Aeris felt the sun on her skin and she opened her eyes. The rocks below her whispered of death, and Aeris knew that they were whispering less to her and more to Barret. And then there was something else in the ground, an angel with wings of white, calling out to Cloud. He couldn't feel it and for a flashing moment Aeris thought of telling him.

Aeris opened her mouth before hearing a loud scream coming from above her.

* * *

Those old people were so _freaking _boring. All they wanted to do was sit around and think about crap. Stupid crap, at that. Yuffie brushed a hand through her hair as she climbed the wall, scaling it as though it wasn't even a wall. She was a ninja with super awesome ninja skills, a stupid wall wasn't going to stop her from getting what she wanted.

Treasure. She could practically smell it above her. It was so close, so beautiful, so ready to be taken. The old guys probably couldn't even climb the wall; lamo. So, Yuffie decided to take it upon herself to do it on her own. What was the point in a couple of really boring, grayin'-haired people coming with her? They'd probably complain about how treasure was a stupid thing to go after. Like they knew anything.

The only one who might've gotten it was the blonde kid. He didn't look so old, even if he hung around a bunch of pervs, big-boobs and things that wanted to turn her into barbecue. Cloud; he seemed cool enough. Creepy, sure, and maybe a bit cute if someone was into Chocobo-butts, but Yuffie could totally see the guy trailing after her up the wall, if she had bothered to ask.

Looking down, Yuffie shook her head. Naw, the kid wouldn't have come up with her. Big bad leader man, with those eyes looking like jewels, was already falling over about Cloud. The kid wouldn't want to disappoint the SOLDIER dude. He was in love with him.

_Eh. Not like __**I'd **__want blondie. He's waaaaay too much trouble. And, anyways, he's got the butt-boinkin' on the brain. I'm a ninja, the Princess ninja who kicks everyone's ass—I don't want nuthin' up there. Ain't into that stuff. And, anyway, it sounds uber creepy. Ahh, I want to shove this into you 'cuz it's fun and won't get you all baby-fied. _

Didn't really matter. In some ways, she was actually pretty happy about it. Yuffie Kisaragi, the cool and young and most awesomeness ninja in all of Wutai, was the only damn person to see what the fuck was goin' on. Maybe the beast and the nun knew, too, but she knew more. She had eyes like a hawk.

Scrambling up to the top, a chirping enveloped Yuffie's brain and she gave a quick cry, covering her head with her hands. "Aaah!"

But there it was, shining next to a bunch of little birdies, chirpin' for their mama, was _treasure._

"Treasure! I found you, oh sweet treasure! Chocobo-face!" Yuffie looked down, noticing that a few of the faces were looking back at her, some with interest, others with little. Yuffie growled, leaned down to pluck off her sneaker, and threw it at Cloud's head. "Yeah, you! Gettup here! I found treasure and a bunch of baby birds lookin' for their mama. Come an' occupy them with that stuff you call hair!"

It was a good day.

* * *

**Yep. I think that gave us a look into everybody's head. They're all nuts, the lot of 'em. I have a new poll (I tried this once a while ago, but I want to get actual answers) so you can go look at that. **

**Please Review! **


	50. Horror of Reality

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Fifty One: Horror of Reality

The screaming was because of birds. It really shouldn't have surprised Zack; if he really thought about it, considering the man's words. But... it still hadn't been a really happy surprise waiting for him once he got back to the others.

The Cokatolis looked pissed, a mother seeming to protect its babies. She was clucking angrily at Tifa, who was trying to hold her back, arms dangling around the bird's large feathered head. Zack didn't exactly know what to think when he noticed that Cloud had the little chicks running around on top of his hair, Yuffie's open-mouthed laughing making the little things skittish. The were everywhere and everywhere, And even as Cloud fumbled with removing the little things from his head, the nest of eggs on the floor, entwined with a large treasure box.

Figures.

"She's not going to charge at Cloud with those things in his hair," Tifa panted, closing her thumbs in a lock underneath the bird's head, around its throat. "Just—get—them—out!" The Cokatolis threw her around.

"Shi'!" Barret yelled, much like a war-cry, throwing himself at the front of the bird, trying to help contain the beastly mother, while Aeris removed all of the little birds from Cloud's hair. Everything looked to be in control, even with the bird trying to flap its wings.

Zack sucked a breath in between his teeth, running his tongue over the back of his teeth. "Er, who should I help?" he muttered, raising a hand to his head, scratching at the hair.

Cloud sent him a look that clearly stated 'get these fucking things out of my hair', so Zack decided which one he's do. "Okie Dokie, lets get these babies out of your hair. Do I even want to know how they got in?"

Yuffie, who was on the other side, raised her hand. "I can tell you, I can tell you! The loser wouldn't help me get the treasure—so I threw them at his head."

"My fucking hair is being invaded by little birds because the kid couldn't sit on her hands," Cloud answered at the same time. There seemed to be a bit of green washing into his blue eyes, the mako reacting to his anger.

_I didn't even know he had enough mako in him to do that; guess I shouldn't be surprised. Hojo... we were his little toys for so long, it shouldn't surprise me. He has the eyes of a SOLDIER... like us all. We're both the pieces of monsters, aren't we? _

Zack sent Aeris a look. She was smiling, bright with teeth and childishness. Her fingers were plucking out the small birds, no bigger than a coin each, and placing them back into the nest, treasure and all.

"Aw, you're not going to let me keep it?" Yuffie whined, stomping her foot on the ground. Sometimes the wannabe ninja could act her age, and now wasn't the time. She was grinding her shoe, Zack noticing that one of them was off a few feet away, and her arm-guard was near where he had left her.

"Nope," Zack answered as he pulled out a handful of little birds, their chirping loud. "I don't even want to know why you decided to raid a bunch of nests, pissin' off mama bird. Oh, Cloud?" Zack held out one of the yellow fluff-balls, "They're so adorable, don't you think?"

Cloud seethed and glared down at the bird that was next to his nose. If anything, his eyes became a bit brighter.

"It _looooooooves _you!" Zack rubbed the small thing, squeaking and all, against Cloud's nose. Though he knew there would be a bit of beating up in a few minutes, Zack couldn't seem to care. The people around him laughed, even Cloud giving out a small snicker.

"Have your fun now," Cloud whispered, leaning close to the little bird in Zack's hand, "because when we're done I think I might kill yo--_ouch_! Fucking thing **bit **me!"

Zack felt tears of laughter coming to his eyes as he pulled the bird away from Cloud's nose, putting it back into the small nest near Cloud's feet.

He didn't even see the foot, steel-toed boots and all, move.

* * *

"Moving from punches to kicks, hmm, Cloud?" Aeris asked, standing over Zack.

Sure, it wasn't like he aimed for his face (_Thank you, Cloud, for not breaking my nose again, at least_) Zack thought as he rolled around in the dirt. The birds were next to his head, or maybe they were flying around in circles. Sure, it wasn't his face, but damn, he could practically feel the bump growing in his hair as Aeris spoke. Her words were more like gibberish than anything, syllables and sounds, but all that Zack could hear was the guttural moans coming out of his mouth.

_Owwy. Why do you always have to hit me in the head? _Zack thought, hands clutching his head. The birds were coming towards him, Zack noticed when he opened his eyes. Even with his hands mostly in the way of his face, he could still see the little stampede coming closer. He could feel the pecking already at his skull, even though, by logic, Zack knew it would take a little longer.

Someone knelt down next to him and rolled him over. There was green, and Zack could feel his lungs take in a deep breath. Sure, he thought as he focused his eyes, he'd taken worse hits to the head, but it had been so long since those times that the feeling was a little foreign. It'd been years... he hadn't been hit so hard in the head since Angeal... the bastard (not a bastard, but maybe a little harsh with some of his training) had a thing with his head. Always aimed there; said it would make him stronger if he could fight with his brain addled.

Zack knew he was somewhat exaggerating the pain. He was also positive that Cloud knew it, too, but there wasn't any danger, and damn did steel-toed boots _hurt_.

"Why my head, Cloudy!" he yelled, even with the pain ebbing away in a wash of green. "Why can't you pick another spot? I broke my ankle once when I was a kid—why don't you kick me there, too?"

It was Cloud above him, Zack saw. His eyes were wide, the green faded back into the brightest blue. They did look like pools, the ex-SOLDIER conceded.

"I didn't mean to hit you that hard," Cloud stated.

"That's not the apology I want." Zack shut his eyes again and looked over at the little feather-heads. They were chirping as obnoxiously as they had been before. "Give me a good one."

Aeris interrupted with a cough. "Cloud, can you go bring this back to where Yuffie is?" The woman nodded to where Yuffie was, not too far away. She was rolling around on the floor, laughing harder than Zack could even imagine a human was able to. It seemed to sound more like the cackling of an evil witch. "Found it. Poor little things look terrified."

"If terrified means sugar-high and little monsters," Cloud retorted, yet he took the next with both hands, nestling it into the crook of his left arm. Zack noticed that it was a motherly type of holding, like how his own ma had held him, partially against her chest. "And don't you dare say anything." The blonde turned around and looked Zack straight in the eye. "Even though I didn't really mean to kick you, I'll do it again if you say anything about me being a mother hen."

Zack just stared up and lifted his arms back up to cover his face. He muttered something under his breath and turned his head to see that the Cokatolis was still, her beady yellow eyes tracing Cloud was if he as a fox in the chocobo coop. Cloud lifted a finger to his lips.

"Aeris, move out of the way," Zack whispered through the corner of his lips, not to catch the attention of the angry bird.

Aeris sent him a look of confusion.

"Move to the right and get the kid out of the way," he kept his voice low, and it seemed that even Red had heard. The beast moved to the side and out of Zack's field of vision.

_That mama isn't too happy. The second Cloud puts those little chicks down it's going to pull out of Barret and Tifa's grasp and go to try to kill Cloud. He's going to have to jump._ Zack leaned up, slowly not to direct any attention from the yellow eyes. Slowly, more slowly than he had been in a long time, the ebony-haired man got to his feet, making sure that he left his packs on the floor. Those could wait.

Cloud was already halfway up the wall, his feet digging into the almost diagonal steel. His feet made slight squeaks against the metal. There was hesitancy in each of his steps, once or twice looking over his shoulder toward Zack. The blonde nodded once, then again and continued up, back to wherever the top seemed to be. His legs and arm continued to pull up to the top until he reached his goal, and Zack took in a deep breath, readying himself.

The Cokatolis took in a breath, too.

The moment the little birds were down, back into the hole that they had come from, Zack ran forward, him yelling out to Cloud.

"JUMP!"

The Cokatolis broke free of the other's barrier and headed for the wall, its talons carving into the mountain. Just as her long, so very pointy and dangerous legs met the steel, running up, Cloud jumped over the side.

_Oh, I hope I don't accidentally kill him_. Zack thought as he ran forward and grabbed his Buster Sword from the ground. He jumped into the air and tossed the weapon down to where Cloud's feet were going, the tip burying itself in the rock just as Cloud came falling down, rigid as a human could possibly be.

Zack blinked and saw both of Cloud's feet catch on the sides, sending a shock wave through the ground as thee blade dug deeper into the ground. He crouched on impact, Zack noticed, and if there was a god or goddess, Zack could almost thank them. One faulty move from nearly fifty feet up could have broken Cloud's neck. The idiot.

"I thought you were supposed to catch me," Cloud panted.

Zack looked over his shoulder at the others, who were staring, mouth wide, at the boy. The only one who wasn't was Red, who had gone back to swishing his tail to keep himself occupied.

"I figured you'd be able to handle yourself," Zack answered, running his eyes back down to the Buster Sword, which Cloud was still standing on.

"You wanted me to feel payback for kicking you in the head—"

The violet-eyed man waved his hand. "Ah, don't flatter me, Cloudy-boy. I'm not that smart."

* * *

After another few hours of travel, the group entered a small, derelict town built mostly of rubble and plastic tents. Zack hadn't expected to see a place so... mutilated. The people, there were so many, lived in the cardboard-cutout shacks; the road was filled with men, their hats at their feet, waiting for change. Some children ran around a small well in the center of town, their feet occasionally catching on a piece of shrapnel. So many little eyes and little hands reaching up through the muck.

Zack noticed that the town wasn't quiet as small as he thought on investigation. There were houses build of make-shift materials going the entire way to the desert, right on top of one another. It was like a battlefield; the black-haired man made sure he wasn't about to step on any land mines. Honestly, it would not have surprised him if there were some hidden within the soil. It had once been nice soil, rich with the nutrients to create beautiful shrubs and thick grasses. Corel had been a main export in coal, rich from their very mountains and caverns below.

Now, the people were out of business. But this, it couldn't have truly been North Corel, where the mountain met the grasslands. It had been where the richer men on Corel lived. South Corel was now just rows and rows of huts. Like a prisoner camp. The only thing that looked the same was the prison. It was out a hundred miles from the town, and that looked the same as it had five years ago.

Zack had once come to Corel on business; he had a prisoner escape, and though normally the men would die before getting out of the barren wasteland surrounding the desert, this one was a little different. Corel Prison wasn't one that people got out of alive, but the guy had been a Turk.

It had been strange, Zack remembered thinking. Turks aren't thrown in jail, of all things. The men of Shinra wouldn't allow something like that to happen, and if it did the man would end up being tossed into quicksand the moment his feet touched the place. The didn't need bars to keep them in. Corel prison was built around quicksand, and even if you were able to survive through that and the monsters, the entire perimeter was surrounded by a barbed wire fence nearly twenty feet high.

But Zack remembered being sent off with his Junior Buster on his back, Angeal rubbing circles in his own hair. He has a headache from the Second-Class SOLDIER, who kept asking questions. Why this, why that, how could this happen, how could that happen. Zack could admit that he did it on purpose; he drove Angeal insane for the fun of it. The older man, Zack's mentor, was never bothered by it, however. He would answer whatever it was. If the question was ridiculous there would be a slap to the back of the head, but most of the time the SOLDIER First-Class would just laugh and pat him.

The man was a liability, and so he needed to die. And that, Zack thought as he turned away from the sight of the prison far off in the distance, was exactly what they had done. Quick, painless, and then back to Corel for some of their special soup. They made it differently, with some of the strangest spices on the Planet, but the stuff was good. The town, Zack doubted as he looked over at the layers of sand and its ladders, wouldn't be making their soup anymore.

At least the people were still friendly, Zack thought as he saw Cloud and the others tracking over to the inn, a small place a few ladders up. The sign, the only one Zack had seen since they entered the town (Surely they had more visitors than the few straggling wanderers?) seemed friendly enough, he guessed.

Barret didn't look like he was very comfortable, but the man didn't say anything. At first, Zack had thought it strange how the big black man would avoid looking at everyone of the town; he kept his head down and arm hidden below a few packs. It seemed not normal and Zack couldn't exactly place what was going on. The man hadn't wanted to come to Corel anyway. And why exactly had happened to the beautiful town that Zack had been enthralled with?

An answer came shortly after the group entered the small, run-down shack called the inn.

The man tending to the front had gray hair, but didn't look as old as a man with gray hair should have been. He looked weary, even sitting down in front of the desk, a small television on in the corner playing the local news. There were electric lights, a sign that the mako reactor in the middle of the Corel mountains worked, and they made the old man's face glow eerily. Zack could all but taste the ash from the man's cigarette, which he sucked on mercilessly.

"It isn't often that we have visitors," the man said, running his hand over the front of his shirt. Zack could see the outline of a gun nestled in the man's shirt pocket. "Don't try to play anything funny, either."

"We just need a room," Cloud stated, slamming several hundred gil on the table. The man eyed it questioningly. Zack could almost see the man's eyes looking at every corner keenly, assuring himself that the exorbitant amount of money laid before him wasn't a trick of the light. Cloud crossed his arms in front of him, his hair bobbing up, still dirty. "You have a shower here, right?"

The man pointed toward the small room near the corner of the room with his nicotine-stained fingers. "Right in there, boy."

Everything was going well enough, Zack thought as the man handed the key over to the small room, excusing himself from the building, probably to go home now that the place had tenants. But, nothing could ever go right in the world of Zack, so when the inn's manager looked up from the money and eyes seemed to connect with Barret's (he had finally looked up, Zack noticed, his black shadowed eyes running over the man as if he knew him...).

"You!" the man yelled, finger pointed out accusingly. He stood and kicked his chair away from him, the thing becoming a pile of tin against the wall. "Can't believe you of all people would dare to show your face here."

"Huh? Barret, something going on?" Tifa was the one to voice the question. Zack noticed her put her hand on Barret's human arm, but Barret shrugged it off.

The man grabbed his television, pulling out the cord. "Wouldn't put my hands on him, pretty miss. He'd probably get your entire town burned to the ground. He's got a way with doin' those types of things, don't you, Barret? You were a good miner, but a piss-poor excuse for a human being." The man grunted as he rolled up a few papers and shoved them under his arm.

"Then why are ya' lettin' us stay here, eh Berny?" Barret's fist was shaking and Zack could see the crinkles near the man's mouth. His yellow teethe were gnashing against one another; Zack nearly shivered from the sound grating in his skull. "If we so bad, why you leavin' an' not kickin' us out?"

The man spit out his cigarette at Barret's feet. "I did say you were no good, but I'm not gunna blame the poor unfortunate souls you've got with you. The pretty missus are lookin' at that shower like it's heaven. Don't see the point in denyin' them. You," Berny scowled, "better not take a step into town. We've still got our pickaxes and shovels, asshole. Still remember your face, still remember your fuckups. We don't need this town going back under—we're already fallin' apart. Finally got a police force back together; took four years without the Shinra help, thanks to you."

Barret didn't reply as the man left, foot crunching over the cigarette, so close Zack was positive that Barret could have smelled the man's odor of beer and grease. The door slammed on the way out—the gil was gone, along with all of the other man's possessions.

"I don't wanna talk 'bout it," Barret snapped before anyone had the chance to say anything at all. He grabbed the key from the table, otherwise empty, and huffed off into the room, slamming the door behind him.

"I guess we're staying the night," Zack said, having to raise his voice over the screaming in the other room. It sounded like the entire room was going to be brought down with Barret's yelling.

Aeris looked at the door as she put her bags on the floor, wiping at her brow with one of her silver-bangled hands. "Should we stop him?" she asked.

Red answered quickly. "It would be best if we waited out this storm of anger."

Zack agreed.

* * *

The townspeople must have heard from Berny, because the moment Zack and Aeris stepped out into the sun, already setting, every human it seemed had their eyes trained on them. It was unnerving, Zack told Aeris as they browsed through a small area of frozen meat (Ice materia hung around the stall).

Aeris picked up a chunk of beef, looking over it with both hands, her fingers playing with the thin, translucent packaging. "They're just people, Zack. Don't worry. Anyway," she put the meat down and picked up another, lifting it up and down with her hands like she was weighing it, "you should be used to the staring. I remember the one time I waltzed around with you in the Upper Plate. There had been so many pretty girls staring at you. I could all but see the butterflies in their stomachs."

"Still," the ex-SOLDIER let out a nasally, dramatically tossing the hair out his eyes, "it makes me feel like, creepy-crawly. Like whoa, if you get me."

Zack saw the woman roll her eyes. He was being overly dramatic, now.

"Mommy?" a little boy a few feet away tugged on his mother's arm, a small pout on his face. "Can we get ice cream, mommy?"

His mother shuffled her feet and said no. The boy let out a sad moan.

"Aw, I can't watch that," Zack said to Aeris before pulling out a ten-gil note. He locked eyes with the mother, gesturing her to come closer. "Would you by any chance know where the inn is?" Zack questioned, letting a smile go across his face.

"That way," the woman pointed to the left, "down the road and up the ladders."

Zack bowed deep in thanks. "Oh, thank you very much, miss. And to show my gratitude," Zack winked to Aeris, who was biting down on her lip to keep herself from laughing, "what's the kid's favorite ice cream?"

The boy, who had been moping, looked up. "Chocolate chip vanilla swirl!"

"That's a mouthful, kid," Zack looked at the guy near the stall, who was staring around dejectedly for a thief. "Hey, buddy, get the kid a—"

"Chocolate chip vanilla swirl!"

The mother opened her mouth to tell Zack not to bother, as so many mom's did, but the money had already changed hands and the boy was sucking on a large ice cream cone. "And how about you, ma'am? Want some ice cream?"

The woman shook her head and thanked him.

"Aw," Zack scuffed his shoe on the dirty mat below his feet. "Don't worry 'bout it. Now I know what's the best. Yo—get me a gallon, naw, two gallons of the stuff in those big containers of yours!"

The woman left after picking up whatever else she needed, the boy continuing to thank Zack between bites of his treat.

"Why're you always doing that?" Aeris asked, her green eyes filled with something Zack couldn't understand. It was the same look she had in her eyes that day in the small park so long ago. Light-years ago...

Zack gave a crooked smile. "Kid wanted ice cream, who was I to deny such a throaty moan. Ignore the pervertedness of the sentence. Anyway," Zack picked up a large beef brisket, tossing it onto the counter, "we did need ice cream. I have a feeling that we're gunna need a lot of it. Hell, Barret's got a lot of explainin' to do, so we need food for the time when he's doing it. And I thought abut barbecuing the little wannabe ninja, but I figured that this," he gestured to the meat on the counter, "would be good enough. Red's going to want some, even if I tell it's imitation ninja."

Aeris smiled and pulled out her wallet, but Zack waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry 'bout money. I've got plenty of it. And did you go and get those materia to the guy who needed them?

"First thing I did. Cloud and I went to do it about half an hour before we met up with you. Oh, look," she pointed out the dusty window, to the sun's last rays of the day. "It's getting late. We should get back... and," Aeris picked up the tubs of ice cream, allowing her other packages to touch the sides, "thank you, Zack. It means a lot to me."

"Eh? What're you talking about, Aeris?"

She gestured to herself and then him, then down to the counter and the ice cream in her hands. "This. I didn't want us to... you know, on bad terms. And I'm glad we didn't. I couldn't stand not talking to you."

The raven-haired man nodded in agreement. "Yeah, toots, it'd be sad not being able to tease you."

* * *

In the room that they were finally let into, Barret opened his mouth, looking around the room. Zack could see the man's eyes meet everyone's.

"You got ice cream?" Barret asked, studying the cartons in Aeris's hands.

"Yep, big boy. We're gunna have some while you're explaining what was going on with this town and that guy, right?" Zack tossed some of the bags onto the bed, however he kept a hard hand with the ice cream.

Cloud pulled out a few dishes from another pack and handed the plastic utensils over. "You can throw them out when we're done," Cloud explained as he took out a large spoon.

The others sat down; Tifa was in the small tin folding chair the inn's manager had left, Aeris was on the bed with her ankles crossed over the side, Yuffie was laying on the bed that Aeris was on, legs crossed and her shoulders moving up and down, while Red had taken the spot on the floor near Aeris's feet. Barret was on the other bed.

Zack sighed and broke open the plastic, the paper bowls falling to the floor like confetti. "Aw, lame. Cloud, wanna help me get the others the ice cream while Barret gets whatever is stuck in his throat out? "

The blonde nodded and shoved his spoon into his mouth, patting the spot next to him.

"Whateva'," Barret said as he grabbed the bedspread.

They filled the bowls in relative silence, and once the treat was passed out (Cloud having put a little less in Yuffie's bowl, and Zack put her extra scoop into Red's bowl, which he slid next to the beast's mouth, sans spoon) the group looked back at Barret. He stabbed at the ice cream with a vengeance only a person with lactose intolerance could have.

"It was 'bout four years 'go. This town'd been the prettiest thing you coulda ever seen. It sparkled wit' life, the people inside warm an' friendly. The homes were beautiful and so was my family. So was everyone's families. They all were so happy; so, so happy. I ain't ever gunna remember a better time than that.

"I was a coal miner. One o' the betta' ones. Worked hard, made good money, had a wife an' a wood house that we called home. She was so beautiful; I remember her like she was right next ta me. Myrna, she had... well, she had. Not anymore. She's dea'. Gone.

"It was 'cuz of her that I agreed with the Shinra. But I don't wanna rush myself.

"I rememba' we had trees. They were monstrous in size, an' me an' Dyne, my best friend, would climb them when we were kids. I rememba' the mountain; I rememba a whole lotta stuff that ain't here no more. We wuz jus' a little town 'til they came along, wit' their wants o' money and shit. I shoulda know, I know, but that don't change nuthin.

"They built that damn amusement park in hopes to bring people to our town, ta see if they could expand. I guess by then they had decided the mountains were a good place ta' put up their newest Mako Reactor here. The town prospered, got lots a money, an' so the Shinra came in, promisin' peace an' money an' better lives. They wanted us ta work there—we were all good with out hands an' heads. Had ta be if we wanted to survive down in the mines.

"Myrna wanted babies, but never could get pregnant. I wondered if it wuz' my fault, and 'long wit' the promise of easier lives an' better jobs, they said they'd get the best doctors for their employees and their kin. I wanted that more than anythin'. She would cry, an' I hated it. She wanted babies an' I'd give Shinra the land ta do it.

"Dyne wasn't too thrilled. He didn't want it; said they were bad. Bad news, I 'member. He juz' had this hatin' look in his eyes when they came, but I got him to. Seein' him with his own little girl made me so jealous I was green. I think he wanted me ta be a happy papa like him. I know I was the only reason he signed their papers.

"An' he was right, no surprise. Everything had been goin' so good, too. Dyne had another baby, a little girl. Named me an' Myrna her guardians if anything eva' happened to him. Myrna was takin' meds, real good ones, and she got pregnant a couple a weeks before... it all happened. I didn't mind workin' the Reactor. It didn't smell too nice, but I understood the mechanics better than anythin'. I could fix most of those inside switchboards wit' a flick o' the wrist. I was good.

"The day before the accident there had been a malfunction over at some other Reactor. I shoulda know then that the Shinra wouldn't accept it was their own damn fault. They blamed Corel; said we weren't happy and wanted them outta our land. We'd been workin' at the reactor when they atacked the town. Burned it all down, just lit a match and killed everythin', everyone I eva loved.

"When I got back ta the town, my house was on fire. The Shinra were everywhere. Myrna wuz' gone an' Dyne's house was next door. Ran in there, found Eleanor dead wit' their older baby, and Marlene, little baby was cryin' so loud. I wasn't gunna let the flames or Shinra get her.

"So I took her an' ran. Ran like I was a villian, like I had done sumthin' wrong. They say I ruined the town, sure that you heard that while walkin' 'round, and I did. I let 'em come with their weapons hidden unda' their coats and it's my fault that the townspeople don't got homes, that their ground ain't fertile, that the Shinra still runs their lives, an' none botha ta fight 'em off."

Barret finished and raised the ice cream to his lips, looked at it with a hint of disgust before throwing it across the room. It made a little splash when it hit the wall.

* * *

**LONG FREAKING CHAPTER! Whew. Never though it would get done. It just kept going on and on. It wasn't stopping. Never felt so relieved to have a chapter over. Also, before I forget again, please go vote in my new poll. It'll make me really happy, thanks. **

**Please Review!**


	51. Bright Lights, Color Contrast

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Fifty Two: Bright Lights, Color Contrast

The morning sun was bright, sweeping the darkness out with each blink Zack gave. He could feel it before it ever graced the gray-ash blinds covering the windows, slanted so that the sun could only get into the small slivers left. Zack wished that the night wasn't done, that he could continue to sleep and pretend like the entire world wasn't as fucked up as it actually was. But, alas, the man thought as he blinked his eyes a third, then fourth time, the sun was coming up and so was the fucked up Planet which he resided in.

Zack attempted to move his arm a little to the left, but the small bed wasn't big enough, nor sound enough. It creaked, a loud sound that made Barret, the only other sound in the room being the man's snores, get a little bit louder. For a moment Zack thought of putting his arm back down, to make as little noise as possible. He didn't. Instead, he made another few creaks and turned his entire body around in the small dingy bed.

Cloud was still sleeping. It hadn't surprised Zack in the slightest; the kid wasn't a light sleeper. He could have probably made a few more noises without waking him up, but Zack didn't want to risk the others waking. It was early and not only would whoever it was bitch and blabber about the lose of sleep, Zack wanted... Zack wanted a few minutes of quiet to think.

Thinking. Gaia, thinking had even become harder in the omnipresence of what both Red and Aeris had told him. Love. _Love. _It was a simple word, four letters and no more, no less, yet it held too much power. Why couldn't other four letter words hold as much power as that tiny word that should have, could have, disappeared into the dictionary without another glance.

It was the same question every time he looked at the blonde: were the feelings Zack held for Cloud love? They didn't feel so much like love; they didn't feel anything like the feelings he had for Aeris, or the feelings he had for Reno. Zack had loved Aeris, and was with Reno for so long that it could have been considered a feeling of deep-affection, if not a twisted form of love. Very, very twisted, but still there. Yet those weren't the feelings Zack had for Cloud.

It was difficult to put into words _how _he exactly felt, but Zack could understand the feeling. It was a fierce need to protect. A desire to make the pain all go away. There were some moments when Zack wanted to do nothing more than to kill himself, spill everything and anything at the kid's feet just so he didn't look so lost, like he didn't have a heart or a soul. As if they had been ripped out by an outside source. And then, the raven-haired man thought as he raised his hand to his chest, gripping at his t-shirt with ample power to rip it off, there was something else. Something so very familiar that Zack could taste it in his mouth. There weren't words for that feeling; it was there, a sharp aching feeling.

But love? Surely that degraded the feelings Zack had for the blonde boy, the one he had dragged around the world and a half just to keep safe. Love was a sick game word, the ace in the hole, the poker-faced royal flush. He could only mean it once in his life and he had spent that time on Aeris. Pretty Aeris with her big green eyes and pink dress, with her flowers on her blue dress and the voices rustling in the wind next to her.

In love with Cloud? Sexually attracted to Cloud? Wanting to be with Cloud for the rest of his life?

Part of Zack said yes, and the other part squashed it down like a bug splattered against the wall with a newspaper. Sexually attracted to Cloud; he was beautiful, yes. Zack ran his fingers over the blankets, slowly spreading them to the top and then to Cloud's arm. His skin was warm. Cloud moved an inch, took in a breath and sighed. His blue eyes never opened. Zack could see the small pores on his pale, slightly tanning skin, and the little coloring around his eyes. Tired, he could only guess, and the circles would only get darker over time.

Without much thought or tact, Zack ran his fingers up Cloud's arm, slowly working up. The skin below was warm, so very warm, and the man could feel his breath catch in his throat. This _wasn't_ normal, but when had anything been normal with Zack Fair?

Up and up, Zack could feel the material of Cloud's shirt before he even reached it. It was soft. Everything with Cloud was soft, except for his personality. That continued to grow bolder by the moment, by each breath, by every smirk and head toss and fight. Every time Cloud did something to Zack, no matter how small or ineffectual it was, the teenager, man, whatever he was, became a little more stronger. The Cloud that was sleeping next to him wasn't the little boy he had dragged from Nibelheim. This was the strong Cloud, the one that Zack had seen growing inside of the blonde the first time he had seen him in Modeoheim.

This Cloud was different. He wasn't a submissive child, a blush on his cheeks and a giggle on his lips. Cloud was something... something that was so—

"Whuzzit?" it was the very person he didn't want to be talking, or awake, for that matter.

Quickly Zack pulled away his hands and snapped his eyes shut, breathing out from his mouth. He felt the bed rustle and creak again. Was Cloud just turning around to move, get a little more comfortable? Or had the guy caught him red-handed? Would he see through Zack's breathing, a synchronized in and out movement that was becoming more rushed as the moments passed? Maybe Cloud would hit him, kick him in the face with no remorse and... _what the fuck was he doing?_

Zack felt fingers ghost against his own skin like an angel's breath, soft and unsure. What was Cloud doing in his fog of sleep? He felt it, understood the fingers moving over his face, hard calloused fingers touching his lips and the corners of his mouth. They moved swiftly to the side before Zack remembered how to breath. He just wanted to touch the scar, that was all.

While he couldn't fathom a reason as to why Cloud loved the scar, Zack had grown used to his fingers running over it. They were softer a few weeks ago... the blonde had such smooth skin, smooth fingers. Even while the rest of his body was riddled with scars, scars that only Hojo understood, Zack had to wonder if the scientist had destroyed all other tiny imperfections. Zack had noticed it on himself, too, when he had first awoken from his mako-induced suffering.

He had no fingerprints for the first few months. No footprints. No skin blemishes besides the ones Hojo created. At first, Zack had even thought that the scar, the very one Cloud's fingers were rubbing over, was gone. It wasn't. The ex-SOLDIER was pleased with that, at least. He wouldn't have been the same man without it there, a linger presence on his skin, a reminder of the years before captivity.

Angeal was there, in his head with the Buster Sword, holding it over his head. That scar was as much of him as the other scars—the one near his heart, where Zack could only assume was caused by the Masamune, the others scattered against every vein, every open space of flesh. There was still the one on his knee, from falling out of the apple tree when he was younger, friend laughing at his misfortune. Another accidental scar on his back, where he was bitten by a Kimara Bug as a child. Others, less interesting stories, but they were still there.

Yet in the beginning they were gone. Slowly after the months of travel did all of them come back. And the one on his face was Cloud's favorite. The boy, when dazed with the poison running rampant throughout his system, seemed to have always calmed when his hand was on the scar, and Zack never once attempted to remove the blonde's hand. On occasion Zack would be in the middle fighting when Cloud would do it, and for some odd reason he would become more powerful, but the ex-SOLDIER was sure that it was just in his head. Zack was a protective person; he wouldn't allow anything to stop him from being the hero that he was.

"Zack?" Cloud whispered, moving his other hand to accompany the other. Both hands were now on his face running over the 'X'. One moved to Zack's hair, petting it as a child would to their favorite pet.

He continued to play his charade, the game of pretending that the violet-eyed man had no clue of what was happening, or whose fingers were petting him like a puppy...

"I know you're not asleep."

Zack let out a little sound from his throat in annoyance. "Guh. Fine, there." Opening his eyes, a little more of the sun coming through the window's slits, Zack could see Cloud's mako eyes shining in the light. "What is it?"

"You woke _me_ up," Cloud explained, removing his hands from Zack. The black-haired man could almost feel the apprehension come back to him when he felt the skin move away from him. There was a coldness, now. "I... I thought I felt something."

Murmuring an apology under his breath, Zack rolled away and shook his feet. The dirty sheets, the fingers on his face, the disgusting feeling in Zack's mouth; they weren't going away. All he wanted now was to scrub his skin clean.

"I'm going to go take a shower. Don't wake anyone up."

Cloud didn't say anything.

Zack hadn't expected him to. He slid out of the bed and walked over the hard floor, his feet not making any sounds. Though Cloud's eyes were staring at his back, burning holes, or at least attempting to, they continued to follow, to stare, until Zack left the room, the door lightly clicking behind him.

He scratched at his black, dirty spikes and sighed as he leaned down near the door of the bathroom, grabbing hold of the small white plastic bag. Supplies and shampoos, bottles of of body wash and razors were the prize, and Zack dug down to the bottom.

The women bought some of the odder scents of shampoo and conditioners, not knowing when they would be able to take another shower. Aeris had told him, a few weeks prior, that as long as she got one good scrub with something that smelled good, she could pretend for a while that her hair didn't smell as terrible as it actually did. The perfumes were cloying and heady.

Zack knocked a few of the bottles inside of the bag over, digging to the bottom where he was sure there would be something, anything, made for a male. Something that didn't smell of flowers and prostitutes.

He pulled out a small bottle with a 'hmmph', sure that it wouldn't be one of Yuffie's cotton-candy conditioners or Tifa's shaving cream. Instead, Zack thought as his eyes widened, it was dog wash. There was a tiny puppy on the front of the otherwise plain white bottle, and Zack looked back at the door, wishing that he could see through it. Poor Red.

After a moment of his snickering, Zack pushed the bottle back into the bag and grabbed the nearest bottle labeled with shampoo. He left the conditioner and made sure to slip a bar of soap into his pocket. It would suck, the black-haired man admitted, if he had to get out of the water just to retrieve something that he has stupidly forgotten.

Zack opened the door, listening for a second to make sure that no one was inside (even though their beds had been filled, that didn't mean there couldn't have been a Turk or Sephiroth lurking in the room, waiting for a moment to strike and take a hostage). There was no sound, and Zack shook his head. He could just imagine it playing out before him: Sephiroth on the toilet with a magazine, or Tseng standing near the sink, waiting to whack him in the head the moment the door swung closed.

There was, unsurprisingly, no one in the bathroom. Zack shut the door behind him and switched the light on, even with the small window in the corner that was barred shining in a little bit of light. Quickly stripping, not spending time looking into the mirror over the sink, Zack got into the shower and turned on the water, allowing it to thump down on his head without remorse.

Zack rubbed at his neck with the soap, scrubbing as hard as his nails could dig. He could feel the dirt and grime, along with the soap bubbles between his nails. The ground, even while the tile was a little moldy and rank with fungus, became even dirtier. Showers were so nice. Even though Zack couldn't sweat enough to be felt or seen, his skin did become oily and disgusting.

Picking up the bottle of shampoo and dropping the soap, Zack ran his fingers through the tangled black hair under the steaming hot water jet. For a long time Zack had not been able to take showers, and now, even though it came sometimes sparingly, the ex-SOLDIER could do it.

While on the run from Shinra, Cloud still comatose in his arms, there had only been one time where they had been able to take a shower. It had been a night when they were in Costa del Sol, so very unlike the time that they had just spent in the beach resort town. The two never left the room and when Zack had met up with Cissnei, they had to leave again.

But before that, Zack remembered scrubbing himself with his nails, with the scent of blood in his nostrils and Cloud, he had just been laying there with the water washing over him. Zack had clean him, too. While it had been uncomfortable, his hands running over places and things that Cloud would have decapitated him for, should he have known, the blonde needed to get clean. While the bathes in the freezing rivers and streams did a bit of their jobs, nothing was ever quite like the water of a shower, with thick tendrils of steam and the cascading heat against their scalps.

The water had been dirtier then, swirling around the drain and Zack scrubbed at his head, letting the suds and bubbles work into his hair. Never had he needed a shower so much; his skin felt dirty, not just from the travel, but from his thoughts as well.

His fingers buzzed like wasps, and Zack could still feel the skin on his fingertips. What in Shiva's name was wrong with him?

* * *

Everyone was awake and fed, Red having been forced into the shower stall with Aeris and Tifa to scrub the poor red-furred beast. The women had left fifteen minutes in, soaked to the bone through their t-shirts and sleep pants, Red howling as if someone was killing him.

"You got soap in my eye!" Red snarled and Aeris smacked her head against the door.

Zack saw the wince cross her face as she yelled back, "If you had only stayed still, Red, there wouldn't be soap in your eye." Her voice was patient and on the edge of being condescending. It was the voice Zack had imagined that she would talk with when reprimanding their never-to-be children.

"I had been peacefully sleeping on the floor, dreaming, when you humans decided that I did not smell proper! I am not a dog—you have completely destroyed my coat. I'm never going to be able to lick myself again!" The words were angry, the first time the ex-SOLDIER had ever heard Red be so. "Now, if you could ever be so kind, turn the running water off."

Aeris gave a sigh. "You're still dirty, Red."

"I'm not a child, nor a human child at that. And this water is cold, and I can wash myself the way I am meant to."

Cloud looked over from the open door and waved to Zack. "What's goin' on?"

Zack looked between the door housing Red, and then to Aeris (Tifa had gone missing, passing Cloud on the way into the room to get changed, probably) and to Cloud. "Uh, what does it look and sound like?"

"Did you give Red a bath?" Cloud asked, incredulously. The boy's hands fell from the door frame and he closed his blue eyes. "My Gaia," he whispered, "he's got to be feeling like a drowned rat."

A flash of Reno slithered into Zack's mind, one of the days that the Turk had gotten in trouble for firing water balloons at the newly-washed Shinra vehicles. He had been wasted, covered in water, looking like a red-furred drowned rat.

"Holy, I hope he doesn't look like that." Zack could feel a blush coming up on his cheeks, and to wash away the thought he clapped his hands together, shooing at Aeris who was leaning on the door for support. "I'll go help him," Zack said as entered the bathroom, only to have something thrown at his face.

"Get out."

"Aw, Reddy, don't do that to me," Zack spit through the material covering his face. He reached up to take it off, but another article of clothing was thrown at his head. "You can't turn the water off—" he yelled, flailing his arms around in each direction until he smacked his left knuckle against the door. "_Ow! Shit!_"

* * *

Zack didn't want to know what the red-furred beast had done to turn off the water, but it had been three hours since the incident and Red still wasn't speaking. He, along with Barret, seemed to have a mute spell on them, except for the occasional grunt Barret would give when one of the villagers spit at his feet, or threw the dirt they had swept out of their tents.

The group was uncharacteristically quiet; even Yuffie, who was nearly always jabbing off on a long one-person conversation where she would answer her own questions about the town or how ugly a certain person was, was silent. All Zack could hear coming from the girl was the sounds of her sucking on a lolly pop and her sneakers squeaking against the gravel. It was so silent that Zack even thought of striking a conversation up with the teenager, just to fill the air with something besides the uncomfortable and looming anger that followed the group around, clinging more than the heat.

There was one place that they had to go before they left Corel, going towards Gongaga and the small towns surrounding it, and then up towards the Cosmo Canyons. Their destination was Nibelheim, but today they needed to find out information.

Cloud swore that he could feel Sephiroth's presence while he slept. At first, Zack had thought that maybe the ice cream had gone to the blonde's head before he had hit the sack, but the way Cloud talked, he sounded so _sure _that Sephiroth had been close. While it was improbable—the man was more than likely already halfway to Nibelheim, if he wasn't there already—Zack didn't say no. That would have meant that he would need to admit that he had been the touch that Cloud had felt as he slept.

"Anyway," Cloud said as he hoisted the bad further onto his back. Zack could hear the metal of his sword clink against whatever metal objects were inside of the bag. "We'll need a car, now. We have enough money." Zack looked over to Tifa, who pulled out a large bag of gil from Aeris's backpack. There was enough money in there to get a beaten-up truck. "We have enough to get a vehicle, and we can't wade across the river. Even with it being only a few feet deep in certain parts, I wouldn't want to get swept away. A car, preferably a big car, would be the best thing. In the Gold Saucer there's a travel agency, where we can get one."

"You really put a lot of thought into it, eh?" Yuffie said, pulling out the cherry lolly from her mouth. Her teeth were stained. "Well, whatever! But don't expect me to sit next to anyone—I'll yack all ova' ya!"

Zack saw Cloud's mouth frown and a ripple go through him. "Oh. Right."

"Oh, oh!" Zack raised his hand, waving it in front of Cloud's face. "Can I drive? Huh, huh?" Cloud certainly wouldn't be up for it, and after all of the classes Zack took while in SOLDIER, it was a waste to just... not operate large and heavy vehicles.

"Whatever."

"An enthusiastic response, Chocobo-head!" Zack clapped his hand on the blonde's shoulder, a bounce in his step. He could already feet the seat belt across his chest, the air running through his hair, the high speeds and Cloud and Yuffie vomiting in the back seat. It was paradise. "But before then we have to go on at least a few rides. Play a couple of games, eat some pie and maybe bet a little on the chocobos—don't give me that look, Barret! You go to the Gold Saucer and do it right!"

Everyone besides Barret seemed a bit enthusiastic, even Red, who was still sulking from the embarrassing bath the ladies had given to him earlier in the day. "Hey, you'll even be able to eat more ice cream, Red. I saw you diggin' your nose in it last night. And I won't even begin about the fact that this morning all of the ice cream was gone, with the lids gnawed on."

Red had the decency to look down. "I know nothing of this gnawing or missing ice cream," his voice was thick, and it made Zack rub at his head.

"Huh, then I guess the bogeyman ate it all. Probably was after Yuffie."

The ninja tossed the pop into the air and caught it in her mouth. "Huh, no stupid baby bogeyman'll scare me! I'm—"

Tifa put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "'Yuffie Kisaragi, the most awesome ninja in all of Wutai'. We know." Zack could see Tifa's knuckles whiten a little bit when Yuffie shook off her hand. The woman had told the ex-SOLDIER that she'd never met such an intolerable little whack-job. Zack had told her that at least the brat was cute.

"Naw, you forgot a part—I'm the great, awesome, totally irresistible—" it wasn't only Zack who laughed at this, "the white rose of Wutai, the _Princess _Yuffie Kisaragi! And don't you forget it." The girl jumped backward, her guarded arm going down, flipping her over, while the other launched the shuriken into the air. She did something, Zack couldn't tell at the high speeds her lithe body were moving at, but she landed, grabbed her weapon from the air, and bowed down low. For the briefest moment Zack could actually see a princess out of her; the way her hand was folded at exactly thirty-five degree angle and the placement of her foot.

Then she jumped into the air, pointing out her finger and screeching out something intelligible in Wutaian. That destroyed her princess charm, and Zack rolled his eyes, seeing the back of his eyelids.

"You're a Princess and I'm a reincarnated bastard," Cloud said, turning on his heel and walking off without another word. The others followed him, Yuffie pouting in the back.

"Aw, no lovin' for me," she said through her teeth, which were clutching the candy.

Zack slung his arm around the girl, looking at the dirt trail leading toward the small station where they were heading. "It wasn't all that bad. You just need to..."

Yuffie shuffled her feet, head bowed low. "None of you old guys like me, anyway."

The desire to roll his eyes was great, but he caught himself. "It's not that. You're just loud, and kinda insensitive. Like I used to be. Only, well, a lot worse."

The girl tensed up. "Big jerkface."

Zack tightened his grip. "No, don't try to run, you know I'm not bein' an asshole." Yuffie muttered something in Wutainese. "And no, I'm not a cock-sucking, skirt-chasing asshole with no assets but a big ego. You just need to lighten up. Be a little nicer. Don't give everyone a hard time."

"You don't even speak Wutainese!"

The raven-haired man pat the little twerp on the head. "Don't question my ways. And come on, I'll buy you a stuffed chocobo if you come quietly."

The girl perked up, a little bit of a sprint in her step now. "Instead, can I get a Malboro?"

* * *

The ride up inside of the tram was spectacular, better than Zack had even remembered. The clouds parted as the blue tram slid between, and through the white puffs and bright blue sky all the could be seen was gold. The building in the sky, built up above the desert, gold against gold against blue. It gave a feeling of exhilaration as the beams of light hit the sky, brightening it up, spinning in a mirage of color and vividness.

So many screams pierced the air as a roller-coaster went down a magnificent slope, and it intermingled with the happy music, surely composed by a child. There was a magnificence to the place, an aura given off like the smell of fried dough and caramel apples that intermingled with the balloons and the childish wails of happiness or fright. As the tram came into the station, the mismatched writing above the entrance, filled with the neon glow of childhood innocence, made Zack smile a little brighter.

However, the prices did not.

"Hold fucking shit on a stick!" Zack yelled, having to actually take a step back from the board proclaiming the prices, arranged next to a very bored teenage girl, a dancing moogle and a chocobo, and a sticky-handed child who was sobbing. Somewhere inside of the ex-SOLDIER's head he thought the kid was himself.

"Please do not use such profanity. The price is three-thousand gil per party. Thank you." The girl stated, toneless. "If you do not have the money, I will have to call a security guard to help you back to the tram."

Yuffie whined, getting the girl's attention. "Don't kid like that! We've got the money, we've got the money. Zack, pay her so we can _gooooo_."

Huffing, Zack pulled out his wallet and laid the money forward, wincing as they disappeared into the cashier's metal pouch around her waist. The mouth of the large moogle-door opened with a snap as the girl's fingers pressed the button.

"Have a nice day and enjoy your stay at the Gold Saucer."

Yuffie attached her arm to Zack's, pulling him along as the others followed.

"And you're still gunna get me a Malboro, right? And some candy?" The girl continued her spiel, and Zack looked over his shoulder. Why was she always attaching herself to him? Couldn't she do it to Barret... he squashed the idea of the kid hanging onto Barret's arm. The man looked furious, eyes glaring into the back of Zack's head. He turned the safety off of his gun arm.

"I think we should go play!" Aeris said as the group entered the large room, the bright yellows, greens and the rainbows near the slides leading to the cars which would drop them off at whichever area they wanted to. Zack remembered the place, but not its layout.

"At the hotel there's a car service," Cloud interjected, pointing at the map in the northern-most part of the room. There were only a few people in there, two screaming children and newlyweds, from the words on their shirts. "I think we should probably go there—"

Aeris walked forward, Zack noticed, swinging Yuffie around on his arm. The woman pulled up her dress a little, putting a smile on her face. "Barret?" she asked, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. "We're gunna go play—you're going to come with us, right?"

Barret snarled. "You're fuckin' shittin' me, righ'!? No, we ain't gunna go fuckin' _play—_" his voice drawled with sarcasm. Zack winced at the look and the sound against his ears. "You're a fuckin' grown woman; we ain't got no time ta be playin' 'round like we don't got Shinra on our heels! You want ta fuckin' _play_?!" The man pushed past Aeris, jumping onto a random slide. "Then you fuckin' play!"

Aeris winced and Yuffie clung harder.

"Well, I guess that didn't work out very well," Cloud conceded.

"That's one way to state a fact, Chocobo-boy."

* * *

Two hours later, and after a run-in with the owner of the Gold Saucer (Zack thought that the man had a few screws loose in his head from all the jabbering that he had done, or maybe all of the Arena fighting), where Dio told Zack that he had seen, actually seen Sephiroth, the raven-haired man wasn't sure anymore if Cloud was wrong. Had Sephiroth seen Cloud sleeping? Had Sephiroth been in the room with their team, defenseless? Was everyone going insane? Yuffie had ran off a little while ago, Malboro under her arm with cotton candy in her mouth, and both Cloud and Zack left the Speed Square, heading off in the direction the little ninja girl had gone.

The car drove them to the entrance, and Zack huffed, moved his sword, and sighed. Their stuff was at the Ghost Hotel, after Yuffie managed to pay the ghost enough GP to get a small room. They now just needed to find the girl—she had the key, and it was time to leave. Damn anymore money.

"Just climb up," the man at the entrance said, bored. He was as enthusiastic as the girl at the entrance. Maybe they were related.

"You have that fried candy bar I asked you to hold?" Zack asked, running his thumb over his teeth.

Cloud handed the small box to Zack. "There it is; what are you going to do? Lure her out with candy?"

Zack nodded.

But they didn't have to lure her out, as when they slid up the pipe Zack saw the girl, a hundred papers fluttering around her like confetti.

"You really suck at this—my favorite color's green—green!"

"Aw, sweet lady, just one more, one more."

Zack gave Cloud a pull on his shirt as they walked forward toward the paper fortunes and Yuffie, with a very, very off-looking cat riding on top of a moogle.

"Still, you suck. 'You're going to eat Midgar-Style pizza down in the cafeteria!'... no, I'm not. I don't even flippin' like pizza. Just let me go—"

"One more, one more."

Zack tapped Yuffie on her shoulder, Cloud trailing after him. "What's goin' on?"

"This creepo," Yuffie pointed to the cat with a Malboro tentacle, "has been buggin' me! Won't let me go."

The cat scratched its head and smiled, pointing his megaphone-wielding hand at Zack. "I'm Cait Sith—your friend here refuses to allow me to look into her future. I'm a fortune-teller, you know."

* * *

**Yay. Done. Sweet. I think I'm going to go die now. As per usual, go to my page, vote in my poll, do all that fun stuff. Maybe even read some of the stories on my favorites. But before then... **

**Please Review! **


	52. Checkered Blood

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Fifty Three: Checkered Blood

The animated doll was about as smug as any human could come when they were screwing up. Even after three minutes of bickering with Yuffie (Zack was sure it had continued on longer than Cloud and he had stood there for), Cait Sith was still going strong, fixing his crown like he was the king of the Gold Saucer, pulling fortunes out of his over-stuffed moogle's mouth.

"How 'bout this one, missy! It says that you're going to have an accident in three years, where you'll nearly drown in—huh, I didn't know that Icicle Inn had beaches. No—wait, wait! I'll get a good one; you just don't believe in the power! How about the man standing behind you?" The cat pointed to Cloud, who took a step back, waving his hands.

"Don't pull me into your games. Really, I don't believe in it either."

The black and white cat put his hand back on his crown, pushing it out of his sight, back behind his ears. "Step up, step up, my dear blond buddy. I can do anything, everything. I can find your true love, find missing people, missing objects! I can even tell you your death, but that's an unpleasant subject. Only the angry self-centered teens want that. Do _you_," the furry cat asked, shaking his microphone at Cloud, making Zack laugh in response, "want to know when you'll become a father, or encounter the princess hidden away?"

Cloud raised his hand, a glint in his eye. "Wait," the blonde interjected, eyes open. Zack could even see the metaphorical wheels turning round and round inside of his head. "You can... _find_ people? Then," he took a step forward, passing Zack by, "can you tell me where Sephiroth is?"

"Let me see, Sephiroth, you say?" The cat tapped his foot on the moogle's head. "Sephiroth, Sephiroth, Sephiroth. Hey, Mog, you hearin' me? Sephiroth," the moogle below wiggled around, and for a moment Zack thought it was breaking, before he spit out another paper. Cait leaned down and grabbed the paper from the fat moogle's mouth again. "No, that's not right," he crumpled up his paper and banged his foot on the stuffed animal below him.

Zack could see those wheels stop, like the metal rusting together. "What'd it say?"

"Probably sumthin' 'bout how your favorite color's pink! I mean, for serious, you're not a fortune teller!" Yuffie kicked the papers surrounding her feet, as if to point out the animated cat's failures. "You suck. Get a new job, neh?"

Cait shook his head, and the little gold crown went toppling over his eyes. "Don't say that—wait, wait! This one's gunna be good; I can feel it in my bones, Mister! I'll show you that I'm a good fortune tell—" Cait stopped when the moogle's hand tapped him on the shoulder, handing over another piece of paper. "Ohh. I've never gotten one of these before," the cat said. There was a agitated silence as the cat handed over the paper to Cloud.

Zack leaned forward to look over the boy's shoulder. "What does it say, Cloud? I can't see over your spikes, they're constricting my view."

Yuffie tried peering over as well, but from her frantic cries of the pain she was feeling in her eye, and how she was going to lose it now thanks to the large spikes on Cloud's head, Zack guessed it hadn't worked out as well as expected.

"Come on, Cloud—what does it say?" Zack moved his head between an abnormally large spike, squinting his eyes to read.

"'_The chains will break apart. Be cautious, because the price of freedom is steep and you do not understand the true depth of your life._'" Cloud's mask of emotions scalded over, and he became rigid. "What in all that's holy does that mean?"

Zack moved his head out of the way from Cloud's dangerous spikes, snatching the piece of paper out of the blonde's hand. "Well, it's a fortune. A pretty creepy one, but better than telling me to go buy more toys down in the lobby or go get Yuffie some scuba gear," Zack went to crumple up the paper, but the little cat jumped off of his moogle's back and at Zack's throat.

"Nooo! Don't do that—it's my finest prediction." the cat's claws, even plastic, dug into Zack's hand and the man hissed. "I'm coming along with you!"

"It's just a stupid lame prediction. And is that for me?" Yuffie grabbed the fried candy bar from Cloud, unwrapping it and shoving half of the snack into her mouth.

"Hey, Yuffie?" Zack waved his hand, Cait still attached, in front of the girl, the paper fluttering around like a butterfly attempting to fly free. "Mind getting this little fella off my arm? Ow! Don't dig so deep!"

Yuffie sent a look to Cloud, who Zack noticed had crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back on the balls of his feet. It was as if she was contemplating helping. "Well, you're practically useless," Zack mock-spat, before removing the cat and throwing it back on top of the moogle. The pinkish-white stuffed animal caught Cait with its small purple wings. "And you want to come along with us?"

Cait Sith nodded enthusiastically as he straightened himself out, paws (or were they actual hands, Zack wasn't sure. The gloves covered the appendages and Cait seemed to have better control over his mechanical arms) waving in the air as he regained his balance on the over—stuffed friend below him. "Sure do! I'm not owned by the company here, and I need to find out if that fortune is right or not. You can't stop a fortune teller from seeking out the destiny of those he gives his magic out to, do ya? And miss, can you hand me that microphone near your feet?"

The girl looked down to her feet and the little red microphone rolled a bit. "Eh, whatever." She shoved the rest of the candy bar into her mouth and leaned down, picked up the object and tossed it at the moogle's head.

Zack wanted to see it hit the big thing in the head, just to see if it could feel any pain. Instead, Cait caught it with his tail. "Thank ya, missy." He straightened his large cape back over his back, re-clutching the megaphone. "I'm the Cat of Fortunes, and yours doesn't seem all that bright! But don't let that stop us—I'm coming with you, no matter what you say. Really." There was a certain intonation when he said this, and to Zack it reminded him of a half-man child.

"You aren't giving us much lee-way to say no," Cloud said gutturally.

A yowl came from the cat, who raised his hands over his head, jumping up and down on top of his moogle's head. "Y'hear that, Mog? We're gunna go on a trip! See the sights, view the world! We're going to watch this man," Cait leaned over the side of the stuffed animal, pointing his finger to Cloud, "and he's going to show us that we aren't," he spit out with more venom than Zack thought a talking cat could, "terrible fortune tellers!"

Mog, Cait had affectionately called the thing, let out a moan and clapped its big, pinkish hands together.

"And there's no way you're just gunna go 'way, leave us alone, maybe go eat a couple of stragglin' kids?" Yuffie threw her bag at Mog's head, and the stuffed animal caught it in his mouth.

"Don't go around littering, missy! And no; we're coming along and that's that. Didn't catch your names. Mind giving an introduction?"

"Cloud, the irritable; Zack, the awesome; and Yuffie, the hyper-active wanna-be ninja," Zack replied before the others could utter a syllable. "And there are more, but you can meet them later. Actually," Zack looked down to his wrist, wishing that he remembered to buy a watch, "we should be attempting to find them about now. It's been a few hours and I'm sure they're still fruitlessly in search of Barret. Maybe they got Red into the Speed Square," the raven-haired man eyed Yuffie, who snorted and clapped her hands together in ill-hidden glee.

Cloud nodded once and turned on his heel, hand digging into his pocket. "Damn," he said, checking his back pocket and then the pockets on the other side of his pants. "Forgot my PHS," he explained, motioning to his fingers and the empty pocket. "You have yours, Zack? Yuffie?"

Zack shook his head patting his own pockets. "Didn't think to bring it along. Just the Buster."

Yuffie was also raiding her own pockets, and made an exclamatory sound, but instead of pulling out her phone, which was covered in stickers of happy faces and Wutaian symbols, Yuffie plopped a piece of gum into her mouth. "Wha'?" she asked, chewing with her mouth open, loud chomping sounds erupting from her cavity-riddled mouth.

"Never mind," Zack said dejectedly. "Guess we'll just have to walk around the park 'til we find them. You've got the only key to the hotel, anyway."

Yuffie nodded, pulling the card from her pocket and tossing it at Zack's head. "An' now you have it," she countered. "Can't blame me on nuthin' now, can ya? Can ya?" Yuffie stuck out her tongue and walked past Cait Sith, up the stairs toward the arcade. "And you said we'd play."

"It's getting late, Yuffie. It's not like we'll never come back," Zack urged the girl to come back down. "I'll even buy you a lifetime pass the next time that we come around here; okay?"

Cloud clapped his hand on Zack's head. "You keep promising things and she's going to kill you when you don't live up to it."

Zack pouted, sticking his bottom lip out. He nibbled on his cheek. "I don't make faulty promises. She'll get her lifetime pass. Just... now right now."

Cait grabbed hold of Yuffie's arm guard, hanging onto the thick metal with all of his strength. "No, missy! We should leave, find your other friends, right?" The cat looked up, large plastic eyes open with comical innocence.

"Yeah, Cait Sith's right. We should go; come on,_ Princess_," Cloud's voice was condescending. "I'll even buy you—"

"Ice cream?" Yuffie answered immediately, her gray eyes narrowing at the thought of such a delectable sweet. "I want ice cream!" she whined, stretching her arms back and pushing Cait off her armor. "As long as you're buying," the black-haired girl added slyly.

"Look, I'll buy you a damn chocobo if you're quiet," Zack heard Cloud mumble under his breath, and Zack smiled. That was Cloud, alright.

* * *

Yuffie was chomping down on a sugar cone filled with ice cream while Cloud pat his wallet mournfully.

"Eatin' you outta money, right?" Zack slurped at his own cone, licking the tip, allowing the sweet taste of mint to invade his senses.

Cloud sat back against the bench. Zack saw that Cloud was staring off at Yuffie, who was casually tossing Cait's over-stuffed moogle a ball that she found on the floor. It would bounce off and the cat would complain about how his poor Mog wasn't going to have any strings left binding him together. Yuffie laughed and tossed it at Cait's head. "I guess I've never really taken care of anyone before," Cloud said, crossing his arms. "I've always been the one being taken care of."

Zack nodded and continued to lick the dripping sweet from the sides of the waffle cone. "I understand that," he added in encouragement. "First day of traveling to Shinra I just kept remembering that I'd never learned to cook from my mom, or how to sew. My mom was a good caretaker, and I figured I'd die without her mending my clothes and putting meals on the table. When I became a grunt, the board was thinking about having classes for the newbies so they knew basic things." The ex-SOLDIER smiled at the memory of Angeal standing over him, waving a needle and thread in front of his face.

"I learned a few things about money from my mentor. He even tried teaching me how to sew," Zack lifted up the hand that wasn't holding the ice cream, moving his thumb out. There was a grisly scar from his joint across in a vertical line of puffed scar tissue. It had finally come back. "Got pissed," he said, showing Cloud. The blonde grabbed his hand, running his fingers over the thick line. "Slammed my hand down on the table and the sewing needle broke off in my hand. Angeal didn't even think I was being truthful—told me that it was a splinter and that I needed to finish sewing the button back onto my uniform. The next day there was black gunk coming out, and Angeal pulled out his pocket knife and—"

Cloud dropped his hand. "That's really not that sanitary, Zack..."

The man took another lick of his mint ice cream, bringing his other hand up to his eyes. "He just poked it, that's all. Anyway, Angeal made me go to the infirmary, where they slit open my hand and went on a digging exploration. Didn't find it until one of the doc's used a magnet spell. Three stitches from the angle that the thing came flying out from." Closing his left hand a few times, Zack smiled. "No need to look at me like that. It healed in a few days and Angeal never made me fix my own clothes again."

"You're hopeless."

The ex-SOLDIER shrugged carelessly. "Don't matter." Taking another bite, Zack cursed. "Aw, it's almost gone. This blows."

"You can buy yourself another one, Zack." Cloud interrupted before the man could turn with his big violet eyes to beg for another. Cloud knew him too well. "It's not like you don't have the money."

The two stayed silent for a moment, before Zack lifted the ice cream to Cloud's mouth. "C'mon, take a bite. It's not gunna kill ya. And then I can blame you for eating the last of my ice cream."

"I'm allergic to your saliva," Cloud stated dully, looking at the cone with his eyes narrowed. "Anyway, it looks like she's finally finished hers, so we can get going to look for the others." Cloud stood from the bench, narrowly avoiding Yuffie's ball. "Watch where you throw that thing."

The girl yelled that Cloud needed to move a bit faster as she slumped over the bench, holding her stomach with both her hands. There was a green tinge to her skin, and her eyes held drowsiness.

"Wasn't a good idea to eat all of that candy, right?" Zack pet the girl's head.

Yuffie told him to go suck a cock in her native language, and Zack pet her head again. "Don't say such mean things," he snickered. She told him to blow himself.

"You understand Wutainese, Zack?" Cait asked, hands clamped to his ears.

"Some of it," Zack answered. "There was a few people back at Shinra who knew it. They taught me a few phrases. One of the secretaries liked mumbling curse words under her breath when she'd get too much work. She liked cats." Though randomly added, Zack snickered.

"You make no sense, mister."

"I know," Zack added, taking another bite of his cone before throwing it in the trashcan located near their seats. "Now up you get." He clicked his fingers in front of Yuffie's face, and she made a gurgling before leaning her head over the side of the bench, dry heaving.

Cloud took a step back as Cait ran forward, pulling out napkins from Mog's mouth and handing them over to the sick girl.

"I guess you won't be going to the Speed Square today, eh?"

* * *

A few minutes later, Yuffie having spilled her stomach contents out in the trashcan, a few kids also joining her once they heard the gagging, Zack and the others were going down the car.

"Ew, movement," the ninja said, holding her stomach with one hand and the other clutching her stuffed Malboro. Her other objects were stored inside of Mog's mouth.

Cloud had thought that it was an ingenious place to hide things. "I mean, it's a good place to hide belongings that you wouldn't want others to find," he said as Cait shoved the girl's bags down its throat. Zack agreed—not only was it soft in there so nothing could break open, but it was also cool to continue to keep the motor running properly.

"Well, we need to start somewhere," Cloud stated as he came out of the car, heading for the entrance to the fighting arena. "Might as well check it out, you know."

Zack followed after the blonde toward the entrance, going up the stairs. Yuffie was complaining and Cait continued to berate her. Even while it was funny, Zack's migraine from the girl and the cat bickering were beginning to draw on his patience. While there was quite a bit in the man, those two with their sneers and words, were beginning to pull a thin line.

The line, however, became thinner when Zack saw the body laying near the stairs, a man clutching his hand over the holes in his uniform. He was already dead and his blood was smeared over the floor. There were so many holes in his body, through every main artery, and Cloud leaned forward to put his hand to the man's limp wrist. There wasn't any pulse; Zack could already see the coldness seep into the dead man's skin.

Yuffie lost more of her stomach on the metal stairs. Cait put his head in his hands, and Mog covered his own plastic eyes.

"Move him out of the way," Zack whispered to Cloud, whose face was a stony mask, one that Zack could already see breaking at the edges. When the boy didn't move, Zack pushed the man gently into the small area between the set of stairs and the wall, making sure that no one would step on him.

Cloud's eyes were focused on the body, but there was absolutely nothing inside of them. They were just col,d, like puddles of freezing mako. The ex-SOLDIER could feel his throat constrict. This wasn't Cloud. The real Cloud was hidden inside of the new shell, improved with each dead body the boy saw.

"Come on, maybe we can find out who did this," Zack said, but Cloud was already up, mechanically moving up the stairs.

"They're bullet holes," the blonde stated. Though his voice was dull, there was the unmistakable anger raging from it. "Who has a gun, hmm?"

Zack blanched at the thought. "Cloud, you can't be serious!" Zack grabbed Yuffie by the arm, straightening her out as they went tumbling up the stairs. He just couldn't leave the sick kid downstairs with the dead body, its eyes staring up at her. Even the idea made Zack cringe. But Cloud's words were even worse, more cringe-worthy. That idea made Zack feel ill.

"Why not?" Cloud bellowed, running up the stairs. "He was furious; why wouldn't he take it out on other people—" Cloud stopped mid-step and shook his head darkly. "No, it couldn't have been him."

"Your friend is a little loose with his screws," Cait said, looking perplexed. "Make up your mind; is your friend guilty or not?"

"Of course he didn't!" Zack yelled, fingers itching against Yuffie's arm. "There's no way. Maybe it was an accide—" he was cut off by a blood-curdling scream from above. Zack's head snapped up to the top of the stairs, where there was fresh blood sliding down like waves.

Yuffie moaned and broke free of Zack's grip, running down the stairs and disappearing into one of the many cars.

"Miss Yuffie does know how to get out of unpleasant situations," Cait said, pulling at the red cape around his neck, strangling him. "Let's continue? Or are we going to follow after her?"

Cloud answered quickly by running up the stairs, Zack sighing and running a hand through his hair before following. Whatever it was wouldn't be fun. He could feel the bad vibes coming off the situation.

"Well," Zack huffed as he slid up the last stair and had to catch himself with the railing not to fall back from the wetness, "let's just hope that Yuffie can find Barret somewhere else."

The blonde boy answered by running forward and into the Battle Arena. The entire place was destroyed, the checkered tile below stained maroon. There were bodies sprawled over the floor. Each was riddled with bullet holes.

"Barret couldn't have done this," Zack said as he watched Cloud check the bodies for a pulse. "He's not this deranged." Zack walked forward through the wreckage of human lives, toward the counter. There was a girl, no older than sixteen, and her hand was clasped on the phone, as if her last moments were spent calling for help. Maybe it had been her mother...

"Wait..." the girl reached out her hand, the phone falling with a clank to her bloody feet. Zack took hold of it, feeling her heart slow down to a lolling sound. "Don't go..." She coughed then and blood poured out of her little mouth, so small, so childish. "He had... a gunarm... so cold, so cold." Zack nodded, keeping his hand on the girl's even as she continued to cry out words. "So scary...don't wanna die. But it's so dark."

Zack had held more than his fair share of hands, shaking with exhaustion and the impending death looming above their heads like seraphs. They always looked the same, with their eyes filled with the knowledge that there wouldn't be anyone coming to save them, anyone to send a heal spell at them, and Zack cursed not bringing his cure along with him for the day. It was safe in the hotel room. There weren't even potions on him.

"It's gunna be fine," Zack assured, looking over his shoulder to Cait, who was stepping over the large clumps of congealing blood. The cat shook his head when Zack mouthed 'potion?'. "There's someone who's going to come... just hold out a little more, kid."

Cloud stepped on a piece of glass. "There's—" he began, but Zack already felt the gun aimed at his head. His grip tightened on the girl's hand as he turned, seeing the owner, Dio, surrounded by a dozen guards.

"You—you!" the man yelled hoarsely, sending his guards forward with a strangled cry. "Seize them!"

Zack leg go of the girl's hand as one of the guards grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, the other sending a high-leveled cure spell at the girl. At least she wasn't dying anymore, but that wouldn't save him from the predicament the three were now faced with.

* * *

"You murdered my guests!" Dio raged, his muscled arms billowing out before him. While he would never say it out loud, the man was kind of scary. Insane glazed look in his eyes, dressing in a speedo with hundreds of guards at his beck and call; yeah, Zack admitted as he tried to twist his arms out of the metal contraption's grip. This man was not just scary, but horrifying.

Zack spit out a pike from his mouth, kicking the machine half-heartedly. "No, we weren't the ones who killed your guests!" he yelled back, but the owner of the Gold Saucer crossed his hands and stepped on a button, causing the floor to rumble open. "Seriously! We didn't do anything!"

"Then why'd we catch your little friend running away from the scene of the crime?" Dio's mustache trembled. "She ran, and because that you're all guilty!"

Yuffie, along with the others, were on the other side of the room, the machines attached to them as well. She was screaming and kicking and Zack was sure that she was going to bust her vocal cords.

"I ran because I don't like dead guys lookin' at me! Not 'cuz I did anything—you're gunna pay for this! I'm the fuckin' princess of Wutai and my dad's gunna sic his ninjas on you!"

Aeris bit her lip, and Zack saw her whispering something under her breath, hands clasped together in what Zack could only think of as prayer. Tifa had given up kicking at the machine, and slumped forward, her head against the warm metal. Cait seemed to have turned off—there was not movement from him or the moogle he road on. Red looked uncomfortable, his body stretched out like a human would, with his legs locked. He was howling in pain every time he was jostled.

Cloud, however, was worrying Zack. He was rigid, his breathing irregular. Zack could see that every time someone said something that Cloud would flinch as if he was being hit. His wrists were bent at an odd angle, and the guards had taken special care to bind Cloud up more so than anyone else. There were roped burns on Cloud's wrists from where he fought against his holdings, but now he was exhausted beyond any other person. His chest heaved, and his eyes were overcome by mako.

"Cloud?" Zack said soothingly, "Just take in deep breaths. Keep calm, alright? Can you do that, Cloud?"

The blonde gave no indication that he heard Zack, and whimpered. It reminded the black-haired man of the times with Cloud swung over his shoulder, clutching the comatose boy close. What was wrong with him?

"And now I sentence you all down to the Corel Prison; enjoy your stay, murderers." And Dio pressed another button, activating the large hunks of metal into moving.

Zack felt the air rushing against his cheeks, heard the screams of the others as they plummeted to the desert below, and Zack wondered for a brief moment where the fuck Barret was.

* * *

**With that, this chapter is now finished. Poor Cloud, and poor group—they're all getting tortured just because Dio likes blaming people for his bad security staff in the most dangerous areas of the flipping place. Bah. New poll, this time about the girls. **

**Please Review! **


	53. A Reminder

Author Notes: I've told you that there would be big, but subtle changes to the plot, didn't I? That means that... well... let's just read the chapter, right?

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Fifty Four: A Reminder

Zack's teeth clenched on his tongue on landing. Because of this, his mouth filled with blood and spit and he spat it out into the desert sand. The blood and saliva, a pink red with bubbles curling over it like ants, stayed there for nothing but a moment and then disappeared into the parched earth. The ground swallowed blood.

"Ugh," Zack winced, already feeling his tongue healing from the mako. The taste reminded him of choking and needles, tubes down his throat and fingers on glass. Why couldn't it remind him of mornings waking up in Gongaga or nights sitting on top of Shinra Headquarters, laying lazily inside of Reno's favorite helicopter, the smell tinged with the scent and feel of sex and sweat on his skin? That would have been pleasant, at least.

"Everyone alright?" It was Tifa's voice. Zack spit out the mako swiveling on his tongue. "Everyone alright? Alive?"

"I'm dandy," Zack said, allowing his sarcasm to seep into his words. The metal casing had let him go, and with its springy feet went back up into the sky, fifty meters away from where he was, maybe even higher. Now they were left with no way out, no metal to kick, and a lot of strange men staring at them like they were slabs of meat. "Cloud?"

The blonde was laying on the ground, not moving. His breathing was still coming out in pants, and his face had lost all color. Aeris was next to him, hand close to his shoulder, but not touching. Her eyes were closed and there was a pained look across her face.

"Aeris?" Zack moved to her side, watching her shake. "You alright? What's wrong with—" he stopped when he saw her hand, bloody. The other was on top of it, pressing down with all of her might. Something was blocking her.

"I can't!" She yelled, digging the tips of her fingers into her other hand, pushing with what seemed to be all her weight. Cloud continued to shake. "I can't get through; there's something blocking me from touching him."

Zack leaned down and grabbed Aeris' hands, pulling them away. There were blisters marring the surface, reminding Zack of burned bodies. "Don't touch him!" the ex-SOLDIER turned his head sharply to Tifa, who had her hands close to Cloud. "You wanna get hurt, too?"

Yuffie, he noticed with a bit of gratitude, slung her arm around Tifa's shoulders, pulling her back. Red was still curled up in a ball, rolling in pain, and Yuffie whispered with worry for Tifa to check on the beast. "Zack's got it, Tif. Just go and take care of fur-ball, there. Yep—see, he's squirmin' like a maggot! You gotta help him!"

Zack trained his attention back on Aeris. The woman was no longer whimpering in pain, and her anger, the lines of her face creased and a few tears of either pain or fury rolling down her sun-burned cheeks, had only grown. "What's going on?" she asked, ripping her hands away from Zack's. "There's something not right—not right."

Cloud shivered and there was sweat coming down his face. It was like rain on parched and desert skin. The blonde's eyes were bulging and they were turning green and bloodshot. A wild beast was staring back at him, and a strangled sound came from his throat that made Zack almost look around, to see if they were about to be ambushed. What else would create suck a throaty and dangerous sound?

Aeris continued to whisper to herself, green wisps of smoke billowing forth from her fingertips, licking the wounds on her own hands and reaching out to him, and then down to Cloud. There was a barrier erected in front of his body, the green smoke meeting the air a few inches away from him. The clear air around the boy was not able to be penetrated by the thick green smoke, which was now even crawling through the sand below.

_Thump. Thump. Thump. _Zack could feel his heart beating away in his chest, and without a second thought pushed his own hands forward into the clear barrier. He closed his eyes, expecting pain.

There was no pain like Zack had expected. Skin on his hands didn't burn, and there was nothing but the warm body and clothes between his digits. He laced them with Cloud's shirt, making sure that it was real, that Cloud was in his hands and he wasn't blocked off from his touch. A few deep breaths in and Zack could even see that the blonde's shaking had subsided. Wordlessly Zack shook the boy, calling out his name.

"Hey, Cloud? You okay? You passed out or something." Zack petted the boy's tangled blonde hair. There was sand between his fingers and it smelled like blood. "Come on, let's get up; this place reeks." Cloud didn't answer for a moment, but his eyes followed Zack's.

Looking up to the other faces, Aeris shining out the brightest, Zack gulped. He pulled Cloud closer and helped him up, his boots dragging against the dirt. "He's fine," Zack explained, hoping that no one else could here the worry in his voice, or the word cutting at his throat. "Worst thing he's going to have is a bruise on his ass, later. Your hands okay?" Zack grunted, wrapping Cloud's arm around his neck.

"I'm fine," Aeris' voice didn't sound fine, however. Even with there being no trace of the wounds present a few moments before, there was something she wanted to say. The ex-SOLDIER could see her opening her mouth, the words refusing to escape. She was so much like him that it ached. "And everyone else?" she quavered.

"Tifa fixed Beastie!" Yuffie yelled from a few feet away, and Zack looked over to see the girl nursing her head. Tifa was behind her looking miffed. "That hurts, y'know! Don't go smackin' people—didn't your mama teach you any manners? Or did she walk 'round with her boobs poppin' out, too?"

Tifa visibly flinched. "Why don't you just...! Ugh!" Tifa shouted, her fists tightening. "I'm going," she said in a rush, charging past Yuffie, who was staring out, confused at what she was viewing. Tifa turned around, maroon-wine eyes glowing with rancor. "And you're really one to talk about family problems, _Princess_. Was your own mother never around, father a drunk, perhaps? Is that why you act so childish? Never had a real human being love you—"

_Slap!_

The sound could have been heard for miles. Louder than thunder, and harsher than the desert floor, Yuffie swung out her hand.

Tifa's face was red, and the woman's eyes were wide, unparalleled in size or shock.

"Don't talk of things you know nothing of!" Yuffie's voice had taken a tone which Zack had never heard from the little ninja girl—complete seriousness, unbranded fury. "You, you—harridan!_ Ahhh!_" Yuffie slammed her fist against her thigh in restraint. "Fuck you, big-tits," she said coldly.

"You're so disrespectful—we've been taking care of you, Yuffie. From your own, childish an immature actions. We could have left you in the middle of those woods, tied up to a tree!" Tifa raged. "We've done nothing but be kind, and you've not once treated me, or any other person on this team with a little bit of respect. You speak as though I'm the only one who speaks of things I don't know about? You do it too—every time you open your mouth!"

"You treat me like I'm a child; maybe if you bothered trying to be nice to me, then I wouldn't treat you like shit! Be nice to others—ain't that right, Tif? You've hated me since I joined you. It's not fair; why bother trying when no one will ever treat you any different? You're just like the villagers. I'll never understand any of you! I hate you, and I hate them, and—"

They both spoke with a vehemence. If there was a side, a right side and a wrong side, Zack couldn't have said who exactly was on which. They were both so...

"Miss Yuffie, you surely don't mean that. Just take in some of those big breaths, miss. Calm do—" Caist Sith butted in, foolishly grabbing Yuffie's arm with his gloved paws.

"Don't touch me, stupid cat!" Yuffie threw the mechanical cat off her arm. Cait flew through the air and against a broken-down metal car a little ways away. Her shuriken arm... Zack should have known the poor thing didn't have a chance in Shiva.

Cloud laid his head against Zack's shoulder. He was staring off into the distance, eyes spanning against the horizon. The sun still had a few more hours, beating down, pulsing against their skin, but would it be enough? "I see..." Cloud managed to say, even with it sounding harsh against his throat.

"You thirsty?"

Cloud nodded, but allowed his eyes to drift away from the horizon to Tifa and Yuffie, who had stopped speaking, and were now staring at one another. Aeris, it seemed by how her hands were covering her ears, was expecting more yelling, if not a few more punches and rolling around in the sand. She was right, because after a moment of breathing the two began their screaming match all over again.

Zack wished he had his pack, because all of his water bottles were in there. "Shit," he said, using the hand not dragging Cloud up to check his back.

"—and I can't stand it! Treat us like human beings!"

"He's a fuckin' stuffed animal, that's a mechanical doll, and I don't know what he is—a cat or a dog! And don't ask me to treat you with anything unless you start treating me with it, too! I'm human, too." Yuffie finished her tirade, turning back around and stomping off in the other direction. "You're all old!" She added as she turned around, flipping her middle finger off at the entire team.

"Is is smart to let her go off without a weapon in the middle of a prison?" Red asked.

Cait brushed himself off and frowned, his animated mouth causing the emotion to become a strange half frown, half tooth smile. "I don't think so..."

"And who are you, anyway?" Red's solitary ember eye looked over Cait, who pulled of his crown (the side was now dented, and one of the jewels had fallen out) and bowed.

"I am, ladies and... red-furred friend," Cait's nose came close to touching the ground. "I am Cait Sith, Cat of Fortunes, who will be accompanying you until my fortune comes true!"

Red looked up to Zack, who mouthed 'wouldn't stop no matter what'. "I... see."

"I'm sure ya do. Now, let's find a place with shade. My nose feels like its dried up, which means that my motors are getting a little too hot."

* * *

Shelter was easier said than done. While the prison had many run-down shacks, chipped and rusting cars along with other places which they could have hidden from the sun with, the problem was more human-oriented.

While there were many people who minded their business, stayed in the grounds and waited patiently for the chocobo carriage to come in each day to drop off food, there were far more who wanted to cause trouble than wait around for hours in the blistering sun. Gangs had formed, according to the chipped walls in the pattern of words. No guards cared, the meager amount hanging around near the perimeters, rather than doing their jobs. The first time that Zack had passed their ragged forms he had wondered if they themselves were prisoners with a little more prestige than the others. Yet they had guns, so Zack hadn't bothered.

The houses were all occupied by the gangs, or groups of 'neutral' people; Zack didn't trust a single one of them, the way that they were eying the girls like toys, Red like food, and Cait was likely to be taken apart to create weapons or transmitters if left alone with the men. And as for Cloud... the raven-haired man didn't even want to think about what they'd do to him. While he was male, they didn't look like they minded. He was young, which meant that they thought he would be putty in their dirty, grungy fingers. The only reason Corneo was still alive still confused Zack. That day, in the brothel, Cloud had acted so oddly.

But because of this, they had no place. Yuffie was somewhere far, far away and that in itself worried Zack. She was young, and though quite stealthy when she wanted to be, that didn't mean that she could fight off six armed men.

"You worried about the little brat?" Cloud asked as he took a few tentative steps forward. His legs still didn't seem to be working properly, according to the blonde. He still wasn't as clumsy as Aeris; the women in question had pulled herself up off of the ground a few feet away moments before and fell straight back down in a tangle of her own limbs. There were times when Zack wondered where all of the grace would go.

"Hmm," he responded. Looking around, Zack ran another hand through his hair. "She's bound to get herself into more trouble than she can handle. Only thing to do is go looking for her. She won't be coming back to us and she's gunna be difficult."

Cloud looked down and ran his palms over the sand between his legs, before leaning back against the burned up car. "I think we should go north, maybe find her, or Barret. I haven't seen him yet."

"Neither have I. It's strange; those bullets in all of those people, the girl's words to me—it all points to Barret, but I know that it couldn't have been him. While he's not the most likable person on earth," Cloud snickered. Zack rolled his eyes and continued to speak, "He's certainly not going to attempt to kill a kid."

"What were you talking about? A girl said what?"

"That the person who attacked her had a gun grafted into his arm." Zack answered.

Cloud only hit his head against the rusting side of the vehicle. "Figured as much,"

Zack's lips thinned into a straight line. Was Cloud right, and Barret actually did fly off of the handle? Did he shoot up a dozen or so people without any qualms, without a tinge of regret? The man was a mean fuck sometimes, Zack admitted, but leaving a kid to die, one that Barret surely would have seen Marlene in? It wasn't a plausible thing, if he thought about it.

"Hey, Aeris, you alright?" Cloud pitched to the woman, who looked up worriedly. She hadn't said anything yet about the hands to Cloud. While it wasn't a smart thing, considering how much Zack already hid from the boy, it would be detrimental to his own health, and Cloud's if he said anything. "You look a little worried. We'll find them."

"I know," Aeris worried her lip and attempted to smile. "You're a sweetheart, Cloud. Thank you for worrying."

Cloud nodded, but there was now a spark in his eye. "Hey, it's not a problem. If you don't worry about those who care for you, then why bother worrying at all?"

A strange look coursed over Aeris' face, and she scooted a little closer to the two. "You're right, Cloud. Smarter than this puppy here," the brunette leaned forward and pat Zack on the head. "He has to take care of everyone, you know. A big hero, right Zack?"

"And if you scratch him behind the ears," Cloud leaned forward as well, putting his hand behind Zack's ear, "he'll actually—"

Aeris stopped her ministrations and listened. Zack wished that he could have held in the sound, but he let out a little grumble from his throat.

"Is he...?"

"Yep. He's panting and whining like a puppy. It's hilarious, don't you think?"

Zack didn't say anything, but leaned further into Cloud's touch. Feeling his fingers scratching there was almost like bliss—no one had done it in so long. Zack let out another pant, and whined.

Aeris' laughter seemed to brighten Corel Prison. "I don't believe that he'd... wow," she stopped when Zack felt another hand on his other ear.

"You're torturing me for your own fun." Zack said, trying to keep his actions and feelings at bay. Not many at all knew about that silly, somewhat embarrassing vice. Whenever it was used on him Zack became a belligerent fool. "Okay—gotta breathe,"

The two let go of Zack and laughed with one another, Zack continuing to attempt to catch his breath. His entire body seemed to relax, and it was so nice. Coupled with their laughter, carefree and so very happy, Zack wanted to smile a little more. It wasn't often that Aeris and Cloud spoke to one another... and after what Aeris had said...

"I think that this is ample black-mailing material." Cloud turned to Aeris and there was a smile on both of their faces. "Don't you think, Aeris?"

"Most certainly, Cloud." Her voice really didn't sound hateful. Instead, she seemed happy. There was a little bit of sadness in her, Zack could almost taste it, but she really was happy. And, better yet, she didn't hate Cloud. Even though Zack still didn't get her dumping him, she was at least not blaming anyone.

Zack lunged forward, grabbing Aeris and hugging her, and with the other grabbing Cloud, who became a little constricted. It was only a hug, and it lasted for a few brief moments, but Zack couldn't explain how... _happy_... he was at how everything was. It was almost as if nothing bad ever happened; that there hadn't been years lost, and near death experiences, and dreams filled with bright neon colors.

And even in the middle of a prison, the sand smelling of death and blood that it consumed hungrily, everything was a little better.

Tifa, however, was still sulking with Red a few yards away. Zack called to her, and she waved her hand at him dismissively. "I don't want to talk right now, Zack," she sighed.

"I have no idea why she snapped at Yuffie," Aeris said, patting down her braid. "It was so unexpected."

Cloud flung a few pieces of hair out if his face with the back of his hand. "Not precisely. I've been expecting them to blow up at one another for a few weeks now, ever since we met Yuffie. The brat— sorry, Aeris; you know that it's true,"

"Doesn't mean that we can just call her that! It's insulting. She's really a sweet girl under all of the candy and name calling."

Zack blanched. "You're joking, right? I'm going to agree with Chocobo-head here—the girl's probably more annoying than me. I hadn't even thought it was possible, but she did the unexpected."

"But she deserves our respect. She was right; we do treat her like she's a child."

Cloud countered. "But she is. Both mentally and physically."

"So are you, Clou—" Aeris cut herself off.

The tension which Zack was sure had bled itself out a little while ago was back again. Cloud's blue eyes narrowed into slits, but he said nothing.

"I didn't mean it like that," Aeris said weakly.

Cloud nodded tersely before standing up. There was a wobble in his step. "It's fine, Aeris. Don't worry about it. You're right, after all. I'm still a child, and you're an adult, and Zack is still a puppy. Now," Cloud looked around, putting his hands on his hips, "we should get looking. At most, we have a few more hours with the sun. And Yuffie's weaponless,"

"So am I; I only have a few materia that I forgot to take off." She raised her arm, showing her bangle. There were three materia attached—two light green and one that was ruby red.

"That's the summons we found on the boat, eh?" Zack reached out to touch it, but his hand was batted away. "What? Is it temperamental like Cloud's bitchy one?"

Aeris nodded. "Ifrit doesn't like being touched by others than his master. He's not as scary as everyone would think, to me at least."

"Oh _yeah_, a big demon who spews fire wouldn't scare you." Zack resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Cloud laughed and kicked a little sand around. "Come on," he reached out for both Aeris and Zack's hands, and both took them. "We should get goin'. Tifa? You, Red and the cat okay?"

Zack saw Tifa's face shine for a moment. She really did love Cloud... "Mmhmm, Cloud. We're doing just fine. Which way are we going to go now? We still need to find out if Barret's down here, and find Yuffie before she lands herself into any more hot water." The woman touched her hand to her cheek, which a bruise was already forming. Zack had asked Aeris to heal it with her powers, but Tifa adamantly refused the help.

"Are you sure, toots? That's gunna become even nastier." Zack tried to explain, but Tifa declined.

"I'm fine. Let's go now? Wait," she turned to Cait, feeling his nose. "Your nose isn't hot again, right?"

The cat leaned further into her touch. "Nope miss, I'm perfectly fine! Let's get this show on the road! Oh, and will you let me draw your fortune later?" there was a gleam in Cait Sith's eyes.

Tifa nodded twice. "Now, let's go find us some—" she was cut off, however, by the sounds of bullets crashing into metal not too far off, and loud, obnoxious screaming.

"Yuffie!" Zack yelled.

* * *

They ran north, to where the screams still punctuated the air. They grew louder with every passing second, and the bullets flying were coming out at rapid speeds. Zack would never admit it to another, but it sounded exactly like Barret's gunarm weapon.

They passed by a few dead bodies, all shot. Their clothes had the tell-tale circles burned into them and it left the ashy gunpowder smoke. The air reeked of it and along with the blood and heat, Corel Prison could easily pass as the place in the lifestream where evil souls dwelt. A poisonous place like Corel Prison wasn't meant for them. They didn't smell like death and vomit or gunpowder. At least, not usually.

Cloud and Zack both pulled out their weapons. If the bodies littering the ground still had life in them, Zack was sure that they would have attempted to fight the two, but... It didn't matter, because their eyes were glazing over with death as it was.

Cloud's sword was raised and with the tip he pointed to the inside of a gate leading to metal on top of metal. It was messy, the rubbish mixed together, creating just a large pile of junk. On the other side, however, there was the noise, and Yuffie's continued screams for help.

"_Oh my Leviathan! Stop shooting! Gah!!_" The pinging continued, and Zack shared a quick look with Cloud, nodding his head, grimly.

"Stay back here," Cloud yelled, and Zack motioned swiftly for the other boy to follow behind him. They ran forward, their feet surely giving away that there were people on the way, but the blazing guns did not stop.

The first thing that Zack noticed was that Yuffie was huddled near the corner, surrounded by a thin blue and white barrier, one probably erected by the girl herself. The bullets were scattering out over the large amount of land, and then the cliff dropped off, down far below. Yuffie was being smart, at least; she was as far away from the drop-off as possible.

Then the two men shooting at each other came into view, and Zack could feel his heart give a lurch. It was Barret, but next to him was another man, a gunarm on his left arm, rather than the right, like Barret. They were dodging one another's bullets and punches.

"Dyne! You ain't gotta do this! Marlene's 'live—we can both be her papas," Barret yelled, but the other man, Dyne, shook his head and let out a snarl. He didn't look sane—his brown hair was ding and dirty with blood and sand. His eyes however, they were crimson...

"He's fucking Berserk, Barret!" Cloud yelled over the commotion. "Berserk—where's Aeris?"

"She doesn't have esuna on her," Zack explained, mouth agape. "We just have to wait—"

Cloud swung around, his teeth gleaming in the bright sunlight. "We're just going to let Barret fight with this guy—his friend? That's cruel."

"Pride. Rhis isn't our fight; it's their's."

Though he expected Cloud to answer with something snide and then run forward, instead the blonde sheathed his sword and without so much as a blink before darting forward to Yuffie, who was still surrounded by her blue wall. He wasn't going to fight with Barret...

_This is for pride. You can't live with yourself if you don't fight for your pride. It's unimaginable—one can not fight this battle besides those two; kinda like when I fought my own... I won. _Zack felt his stomach churn. He didn't want to remember, there was no reason for the face to flash before his eyes. It was a pointless and heartless endeavor.

Both Barret and Dyne had noticed that there were others watching in the sidelines; not only was there Zack, Cloud and Yuffie, but the others had come forward, too. Even when Zack pushed them back when a Molotov Cocktail blew up a few feet away, courtesy of Dyne. Yuffie's Leviathan, which was the source of her watery protection, was able to protect from the burst. She had, without trouble, had her summon push out the thin membrane shield until it licked against Zack's skin, but rather than joining for more than a brief mintue when the Molotov Cocktail blew, the ex-SOLDIER stood on the sidelines.

"C'mon—we ain't gotta fight like 'dis. We're friends, y'know. Always have been—nuthin's changed." Barret was hesitant with his shots now as Dyne became weaker, even though his eyes continued to blaze their deep crimson.

The bullet that came from Barret's gun finally struck home, and went straight through Dyne's stomach. Blood poured from the wound, and the brown-haired man let out a roar of pain and panic.

"Muthafuckin' A! Dammit!" Barret let his right arm drop as Dyne fell to his kness, hands over his stomach. "I didn't want do tha'--why Dyne, _why_? Why can't you juz'... juz live—fuckin' shit! Your baby's alive, an' she—"

Dyne's eyes were turning back to their original color now, a deep brown. They reminded Zack of the little squirt back in Midgar. She had asked Zack to braid her hair one day before the bombings started, and even though he had absolutely no idea how to do it, Zack tried. There was a little bit of complaining on her part, but she was just too adorable to say anything to. Even though Dyne and his blood and anger weren't cute, he could see her in him.

"I... I'm a monster," Dyne coughed. He covered the hacking with his right hand, which little droplets of red coated. "I wouldn't dare touch her; I'd taint her..."

"Your hands ain't no cleaner than mine. We can take care of her, togetha'. I know she wants ta meet her papa. She looks so much like ya, Dyne." This was Barret's moment of weakness, and he fell to his knees in front of his bleeding friend. "She wants ta meet ya. You gotta come ta Midgar, see her smilin'. She's so smart, Dyne."

Dyne shook. "I just want everything to _die_. You, them, even her. At least there wouldn't be any more pain,"

"That ain't true. You got hurt, you lost a lot, but I did, too. And still, I ain't dead, I ain't givin' up. I knew you wuz' alive. The doc that fixed up mah arm said that he did 'nuther replacement. I always knew it was you. I wanted to find you, so bad, but when I got back to Corel nuthin' was different an' you weren't there. What're you doin' down in this rat-hole? You ain't no criminal."

Dyne smirked, but it was less frightening and more frightened. His lips twitched. "I... this is my home. I live here, I run this place. It's beautiful, isn't it? Fitting for a fucking bastard like me."

Zack couldn't see anything beautiful about the place. It was a ruined wasteland. But Dyne raised his gunarm.

"I love this place... and it will be the last place I stand on this Planet. I've always known that this would be my resting place... I think I've taken up a liking for falling from high places. After all, you were the one who dropped me the first time."

Barret spit into the dirt. "You know I didn't mean ta—our hands got shot off by tha' bitch. I couldn't hold you wit' a stump, and you couldn't hold on. You know I wouldn't drop ya."

Dyne was moving closer to the edge now. He coughed into his hand before reaching down into his shirt, puling something free. "Give this to her... a memento from her mother—" he threw it to Barret, who caught it in one of his hands.

"No, Dyne, don't do it!"

"Tell her that daddy's goin' home, to see his other baby and her mama. We'll see her soon. You take care of her,"

Barret lunged forward as the man dropped, and he clawed at the side, hand grabbing hold of Dyne's wrist. Zack rushed forward too, but Barret hissed for him to back up. Could Barret really be able to pull the wounded man up without help?

"I gotta do this on my own." Barret said, and there were tears in his eyes. Zack had never seen them so raw, so filled with emotion, even when he was talking about Marlene.

"Let me go... let me die, Barret. It's time for me to go," Dyne was scrabbling against Barret's hand, but the black man had a vice-like grip on the other man's wrist.

"We're gunna see her together. You ain't gunna run... I won't let ya. She needs us both." With that Barret gave one last grunt and Dyne slowly came up from the cliff's edge.

* * *

**Boop. That's right. I just totally saved an angsting man from death. And now, you get to tell me what you think of it. Was it a good idea or a bad idea? I'll put it up in my profile, if any of you want to go do it. I don't know why I'm on a poll binge, either. And don't ask why I have a thing for saving people from death. Dyne, Jessie, Zack... Ah, anyway, why am I reviewing my own piece? **

**Please Review! **


	54. Broken Wing

Author Notes: This is not a good thing. Well, the chapter is and all that, but this story just took a dive into my muse's furthest corner of his brain... and what he pulled out was disturbing. I love Mortie, but this is just plain scaring me. He's good. Oh man, is he good. (I think I'll continue to mumble, but this chapter is in need of being written...)

Also, information about the other Turks in the company. There are several of them, and below I have given you their name and weapon, so that should you desire you can have a peek at them. They come in 'Before Crisis'.

Raiden/Male/Rod  
Alyssa/Female/Gun  
Larc/Male/Two Guns  
Cecilia/Female/Shotgun  
Louis/Male/Martial Arts  
Ash/Female/Martial Arts  
Sebastian/Male/Katana  
Skyler/Male/Nunchaku  
Penelope/Female/Knife

Before I forget again, Stoic-Genius' 700th review Interlude will be up soon, and Chaos Dragon-Fox will be getting a one-shot, so watch out for those.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Rebirth Two: Broken Wing

Tseng laid his head against his pillow and wished for death. Sleep was futile—he hadn't had the blissful hours of peace, where his head would swim through dreams like lovers' passionate embraces, in so very long. He could feel his body begging for it and yet he continued to stare up at the ceiling. Nothing would work.

At first he had thought that it was his own fault, that the vast amounts of coffee he drank each day was affecting him, but even when he drank only a cup in the morning he was met by the restlessness of night. Tseng attempted to switch over to bitter Wutaian tea, which added to his insomnia, if anything. Then there were the slew of pills, one after another, all promising that he would have a fitful sleep.

Perhaps his new onset of sleep deprivation was his own mind processing the things around him; the air, the temperature, the ceiling which could have, for all Tseng knew, could have had a mad man readying for his death. Even though it was impossible (Shinra owned the entire apartment complex, with its clean walls and blindingly white ceilings), the Turk wanted some reason for why his subconscious was locking away his one treasure, one treat.

There was always the chance that his body and mind both felt threatened at night. When he became First-in-Command, there were many nights which passed without even blinking. The times passed and changed and Junon was still the same threat. Tseng could have slept with the window open, if he so desired, but he hadn't ever thought of having a death wish. There was always that chance, that one moment where there was a possibility of a breach in security.

For that reason alone the Turk slept with a gun on his nightstand, a switchblade under his pillow and a pair of poisoned needles hidden in the crevices between his mattress and the wooden frame. His partner, who was curled up next to his side breathing softly with eyes closed, didn't have anything but a flimsy retractable knife attached to the limp wrist that hid below the pillow.

Partner... that could have very well been the reason why he couldn't sleep; Tseng felt the need to curl further and further away from the warm body. It wasn't doing anything but taking up space. It was not who he wanted next to him.

He wouldn't dare utter the term 'lover'. The sleeping individual was nothing more than a quick lay who had no qualms spreading their thighs wide. It was mediocre sex as it was and did not deserve to be touched with an endearment. Quick, pointless and then they would sleep. There wouldn't be any touching (not like two Turks would dare admit to wanting to be cuddled of all things) or soft whispered words in one another's ears.

Tseng wanted to push the body to the ground and tell them to get out of his apartment. He was only there for another few hours before going back to work and to trekking across the Planet with nothing but an angry group of other Turks (not including the bed warmed next to him, whose fingers were playing with the blankets) and an over-achieving president. Tseng could already feel his head aching. Maybe then he would be able to sleep in the helicopter while the others thought he was reading over papers. Rude had an advantage which the older Turk actually envied—the bald man never left without his sunglasses. At least then he could sleep in peace.

Ignoring his stirring partner, the raven-haired man crawled out of his bed and headed toward the kitchen—there was bound to be something which he could eat, and he could work on the paperwork that stacked up fairly high on his desk in the corner of the room. The desire to pull out his mastered Fire materia was overwhelming.

That would have caused a scene.

"Tseng, sir." he felt a hand on his shoulder. Tseng shrugged it off callously. A look of pain crossed the other Turk's face, but they hid it below the well-sculpted and painted masks they created on their first days on the job. He didn't want to be touched, and the other obeyed weakly.

"Yes?" he knew that he should have been a little nicer, but his lack of sleep was truly beginning to twist his senses. When they had been fucking a little earlier he had seen flashes of green and brown, the smell of flowers and love. Stupid, foolish ideas.

"Does..."

"Does what?"

"Does this feeling of guilt ever fade?"

Tseng turned and put his coffee pot on. Maybe it wasn't her either. I could have very well been the guilt in himself. "No, it doesn't. But Turks do not feel guilt, or any other emotion about their job. They do their orders without qualm. You have done your job well."

* * *

Dragging the fat fuck's dead body back to Midgar hadn't been as easy as Reno imagined. It was a mess of guts and blood and the ship's crew refused to clean it or put the dead body in the body bag. Heidegger was dead and for that the red-head could let out a rallying cry of happiness, but scrubbing stains out of white walls really wasn't his thing.

Rude, Raiden and Cecilia were with the President, Gaia knew where, but they were coming back soon to pick him up. He had finished his mission, getting the body back to Midgar for burial. While the man deserved to be burned and have his heart torn out and sacrificed to a summon of Shinra's choice, the situation still didn't make any damn sense.

Reno was smart, smarter than most would think, but the way the man died was still puzzling. It had been an old way of getting out of trouble; there was no way anyone could be blamed. The only times it was used was for political assassination, and most of the time it was the SOLDIERs who were the ones doing it. Why would Rufus do it? Who did it with him? And why the fuck was he stuck both bringing back the useless pile of waste and cleaning up after its mess?

Sure, Shinra paid him a hefty sum and didn't mind too much that he drank on the job (he didn't do that too often, not enough for Tseng or Rude to call him out on it) or that his past conquests liked yelling at him in the middle of Shinra Headquarters. Most of them didn't survive that long if they came to his workplace, anyway. Tseng said it was something about personal and work boundaries. Reno knew that it was because Tseng hated the nagging little whores. They always wanted something from him... and he wasn't budging.

They were always women. Men didn't really do it for Reno—there was something about them that just wasn't attractive. Sure, guys could be hot as Ifrit's ass, but that didn't mean the red-haired Turk wanted to screw him senseless. He was a jugs man. He never fell in love with a woman, but they were always nice.

There were two men he's been with in his life, and both ended terribly. Reno knew then, when he looked at Zack holding the blonde kid when he caught up with his in the outskirts of Midgar, that it wasn't possible for him to fall in love with a woman. They were sex objects, nothing more and nothing less.

Reno shook his head and rubbed his hand over his eyes. He had gotten to Midgar the day before, and was now just waiting, waiting for the call to come in from Tseng. While Reno was cleaning up brain matter from glass, they had gathered base and decided to trek to Gongaga. Rude had called a few hours prior, mentioning that he passed through Rio, his own home town, and the redhead gaffed.

Rude was a good partner and friend; he dealt with him when he was drunk and didn't mind getting thrown out of places because Reno had dumped the bartender or waitress. They were like family, like all Turks became. They were to stick together through thick and thin, through food poisoning and monster bites, from being hit with a Fire spell or an ex-girlfriend to protecting each other's backs when the bullets were zooming. In the Turks, it was simple: you either became a family or died.

The bald man knew about things... things that Reno wouldn't dare tell anyone else. It was embarrassing stuff, most of it, but some could have easily meant the end of Reno's life with a bullet at the base of his skull. Rio, though... Rio was more than embarrassment; the place represented shame.

Before the Turk was moved up to Second-in-Command, there had been times where he had been a recruiter. Not often, but when the Company had Reno do it, he would hit dozens of towns and the missing children would multiply. More than one family lusted after his blood on the concrete, a little brain matter and teeth to add to their image of him splattered from high above. But that didn't really matter; he did his job well.

Dozens of kids would follow him because Reno was what they wanted to be in life—strong, handsome, wealthy and powerful. They wanted to bring their tarnished family honor, or be able to pay the doctor bills for their sick aunt or some other shit. All it took was a few words of encouragement and endearment and those kids would fall to their knees, begging to know where the truck to Midgar was taking off from.

That day down in the small river village was different, though. Reno had gone in with one goal in his mind: find his cousin and save him from the life of boredom he was being inflicted with. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought that things would have escalated to what they did... because that wasn't the type of guy Reno was. He didn't like guys, let alone his family members. They were all fuckers with strong hands ready with belts, or nonexistent in his childhood. Jamie wasn't like them... not little Jamie, whose eyes glowed when he talked about his latest job or girlfriend. The kid loved to hear the stories about monsters down in the slums or how he assassinated a gang's thug leader; he wanted to be just like his cousin.

Reno snorted and rubbed at his face. Even though he had washed his hands a hundred times, he could still feel blood on them. Heidegger bled like a stuck pig.

The phone rang. Reno reached into his back pocket, fumbling to open the phone. "Huh? What's up, bossman? Got some stuff ya want ta tell your good worker Reno? Who, for your ass, dragged a corpse through a few battles to get back to Midgar. Am I up for a raise? You know—a big fat one? Or maybe you're finally givin' over your pretty convertible. I always did love you."

Tseng on the other end was stoic as usual. Cheap asshole; couldn't even laugh at his joke or even at Reno's expense. Cold-hearted and callous; just like the boss.

"Get yourself ready and pack your bags. Your helicopter is ready to travel and I need to be picked up within the hour. You will make it here in that time, understood?" Tseng clipped.

Reno blanched. "You've gotta be shitin' me, boss; it takes two hours to get there with my heli. I can't make it there within the hour."

"That was not a suggestion, Reno. Be here at eleven-hundred or I will make sure that you next flight will not end smoothly."

"Eh, whatever you say, Commander. I'll get to it." Reno hung up the cellphone. "Fuck me—this isn't gunna end up nicely." The last time that he screwed up one of Tseng's plans he took a dive out of the helicopter he was in, crashing into a sparse field in the middle of nowhere.

Quickly the redhead changed clothing, slipping himself casually into the blue Turk uniform, making sure that the wrinkles was visible and that there was enough dirt at the bottom of his shoe. Carelessly he pulled at his ponytail, and scrubbed his head fiercely with his fingers before grabbing his cardkey, the bag next to his door and set out to go get his boss from Junon.

Oh joy.

But his mind continued to tumble around the great lump of flesh that was being buried somewhere near Midgar, plastic wife and sons weeping their false tears over Heidegger's grave. The two boys would be wearing their nicest suits, hiding their backs from the eyes of the public. She'd be wearing her famous glasses that covered half of her face; the Turk had seen her purple and blue face once after a company party. Poor thing, but it was her own damn fault for marrying a fucker like that.

_But love is love. It's imperfect and fucked up and a bloody mess sometimes, but what else could it possibly be? There's no such think as a clean relationship. Damn them both. _

* * *

Elena looked at the file on her desk, the deep red print of '**CONFIDENTIAL: TOP SECRET**' sprayed across the otherwise plain manila folder. What it was she wasn't sure; Tseng had told her to get it for Reno, the over talkative, drunk superior who liked grabbing assistants' asses. She didn't like him. The man was to brash and rude, even if he was the best Turk under Tseng.

Tseng... Elena felt her face flame up. Her older sister had told her that Tseng was as handsome as a thousand SOLDIERs, and she had been quite right. While Elena did not like her sister, she had never once been wrong about the perfection of a man's body. It wasn't right to sleep with your superior officers or even think about their rippling muscles and beautiful slanted eyes and Gaia—she was turning into a woman-version of Reno.

She smacked her head against the her palm. Not a good thing, thinking so many things, but _she_ was there with him and Elena hated her a little more. The traitor—why did she get special attention for being evil? While Elena was happy that it wasn't her wayward sister or Reno, it was still a woman with little morals. It was a good thing that Jessie had left Avalanche but that didn't change the fact that she was a traitor, and traitors do not change. They did not stick to a side; they ran with whoever promised the best protection.

Slipping her hand away from her face and over to the folder, Elena wanted to do nothing more than to read whatever it was. It was important. Tseng needed it and didn't want anyone but Reno to be touching it for extensive amount of time. Yet he had trusted her with its safekeeping until the redhead could get his fingers on it. Elena was proud to think that even though she wasn't the one to be sleeping next to her boss, she was trusted much more than the little harlot.

But the paper was begging to be looked at. Looking around, to make sure that no one was standing anywhere near her, Elena tipped the folder over, just an inch or so, and read the bottom right corner of the paper.

"201745?" Elena repeated off of the paper before letting it drop unceremoniously back down. It wasn't anything of importance—just a string of numbers that held no meaning or symbol.

She had expected something; a hidden child's birth certificate from the president, a secret building plan for the insane SOLDIERs, maybe Avalanche's whereabouts, but it was nothing of the kind. Only boring numbers that didn't look too interesting. The Turks were flashy but this was not.

Sighing and leaning back, the blonde woman pushed a few pencils straight. The file continued to stare back at her, daring her to continue reading more than a scrape of incomprehensible numbers, but she would defy. Tseng would be upset at her, even if he didn't say it to her face (but from the wording over the top Elena imagined that if he had found out there would be a bullet lodged in her skull), and that was one thing she didn't want to do.

So Elena dealt with Reno's snide remarks about her uptight attitude, Alyssa's cruelty and Jessie's incompetence to loyalty... because one day she'd make the Commanding Turk happy.

That was all she really wanted, anyway.

* * *

Rude wiped the barrel of his gun and grunted. No enjoyment came; no tingles down his arm or fluttering in his empty stomach from the kill. Weapons were so... frivolous. He would have rather used his hands, but there had been no time and the President's life had been in... danger.

"Cool down," Cecilia stated as she pulled out a few shotgun shells from her pocket, reloading her gun. "Gunning is easy; just think of them like beasts chasing after your family. You either shoot and save your kid from getting swallowed or miss, shoot the tree behind the two and get blood all over yourself." She twisted her light brown hair behind her head with a few scrunchies.

"..." Rude looked back down to his gun with distaste through his sunglasses. "I know how to shoot and I can do it well. I am not incompetent."

Cecilia nodded and placed her weapon on the other side of the bed. "The President seems to be pleased with your work," she commented and brushed her sleeve of fine particles of dirt. "I believe that we will be leaving soon; he wants me to go back to HQ and you'll be going to Gongaga, right?"

Rude nodded gruffly. "Reno, Elena and myself."

"How 'bout that Jessie girl? It doesn't seem like she can take the shoes that she was hired to fill. No one can be like Cissnei." The room filled with discomfort.

"No. She will be going back with you."

Cecilia slapped her hands on her legs and crossed her ankles. Rude noticed how uncomfortable she now looked. "I don't understand why she is part of this team," the brunette said cautiously. "It makes no sense how she..."

"She reminds him of someone."

The woman snorted. "You've got to be shitting me. That makes no sense at all. Tseng's always had a thing for the little flower girl, the Ancient, but I don't think that's why Jessie is around. There has to be something else. Something important that we're missing."

Rude placed his gun inside of its holster and pushed himself away from the door. The two people on the other side of the door knocked and the silent Turk opened the door, ushering the president and Raiden inside.

While Raiden no longer looked like the child he once was, it was still startling to see someone so much like Reno looking back at him. If the other Turk had been a little older Rude would have assumed them to be father and son. It wasn't just their looks, but also their personalities, which constantly clashed with one another. Sometimes it was like looking at two brothers.

"Hey, hey; anybody miss us?" Raiden asked, winking to Rude and nodded his head to the President, who stared out coldly. "He takes a long time in the shower—even more time on that hair of his."

"It is not smart to tease the president of the company you work for," Cecilia interjected and picked up her gun. "Is it, Rude?"

Rufus, aloof, nodded.

"Aw, how can you do that ta me? I'm like, your best friend. If I had been 'round before you grew up and I got assigned to take care of you in Junon, I probably would have been changing your diapers and stuff."

Rude knew that while the president was cold, hardened by strict upbringing and solitary life, Raiden would be the closest thing to a family member or friend that the man ever had. That was probably why, for all of the property destroyed by the maroon-haired man, he was still alive. It wasn't easy to kill the person who protected them with their own body.

"Turk." He was still the president and as cold as ice chips. Not many got to see Rufus as a human, one that could both bleed and cry. "You will be flying us back to Junon. Tseng and Elena will be accompanying us along with Reno and Rude. Tseng informed me that there are new missions for you to partake on; complete them. You, as well." Rufus looked up to Cecilia, who said 'yes, sir'.

"Yes, sir," Raiden said with a flick of his hand before backing up, already heading towards the exit and back to the helicopter that was out in the dust field a little ways off from the house they were currently situated in.

"Have you disposed the bodies of the homeowner?"

"Yes; they have been taken care of," the woman said.

"..."

"When you get back to Headquarters, I would like you to personally take care of Heidegger's wife. Take along Sebastian. She knows too much, and he likes to watch beautiful things die."

Rude glared at the president but said nothing. If he had felt the glare he had hidden it well.

A few minutes of tense silence passed until Raiden came back into the room. "Beast's all flared up and ready for take-off."

Rude crossed his arms and followed the others back out to the field, passing over a newly-turned area of soil as they went by.

* * *

**This was hard to write and I don't know why. I do, however, like Raiden and the others. They're all going to be fun later on in the story, as well as important to the plot. Yay? The next chapter should be out before long. And if any of you want to read some smut (I feel like I'm a car salesman) check out my newest one-shot; it's Genesis/Cloud. Anyway... **

**Please Review! **


	55. Big Brother

Author Notes: Not much to say. New poll for my yaoi-filled one-shots and this chapter really did take way too long to get to you guys. But that's about it. So, let's just get to the chapter, eh?

**NOTICE: This chapter, as of the day it was put up (July 3rd), has been betaed by the perfect and angelic awesome unwinding fantasy, who honestly has the patience of a saint. All hail unwinding, the ruler of the world!**

Disclaimer: I, Strange an Intoxicating -rsa-. Do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Fifty Five: Big Brother

Barret carried Dyne with surprising gentleness even though the other man was only a little shorter and less bulky than him. He didn't want any help either. He continued to profess it was his job, his duty to protect Dyne. No one else touched him.

The fire of battle and the berserk status were fading with the sun. The temperature began dropping rapidly because of the lack of light. Soon it would be like ice in the desert. Nights were never fun when surrounded by sand and even worse when there was no place to sleep or food to be eaten. Zack thought about trying to find another house, one with more amicable patrons but when the darkness began to corrode the prison he opted for the safer choice.

"Barret, we've got to find a barrel and something to make a fire," Zack said as he watched Barret go about laying Dyne's battered body against the ridge of a burned car, "It's bad enough that we don't have a roof over our heads but to go without some source of heat'll get most of us sick."

Aeris spoke up, "I have Ifrit; he's more than willing to help start a fire. We just need firewood to keep it going through the night." She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. "You should leave Barret and Red here. Take Cloud and Yuffie," she said, motioning to the tired black-haired girl, "with you. Come back quickly, okay?"

Zack nodded. "Sure. Come on; up ya go!"

Cloud stood, blinking his eyes once. "Fine," he said but he glanced tentatively over to Yuffie, who seemed to be weeping at the thought of more activity, "Come on, Yuf."

"You're all a bunch of old geezers, y'know. I'm tired and I wanna sleep. Can't you just go do it?"

"Come on, Yuffie. I'll buy you more candy when we get outta here," Zack tempted her.

Her ears perked up at the idea and Zack knew that he had the girl with the promise of a sugar-laced cane. "Fine, fine," she swooned exaggeratedly, "you're gonna need a whole lot of chocolate to keep me happy. Just remember that." She waved her finger as she jumped to her feet, the sleepiness slipping from her eyes like water from a raincoat. "Ready?"

"You're way too perky," Cloud answered, turning to Zack, who was rubbing the sole of his shoe against his pant leg awkwardly.

"I'm not going to have any money by the time we're out of here," Zack mock-sighed, "but it can't be helped now, can it? How 'bout you take off some of the weight and buy the kid some nice, crispy food when we get back to the park? Huh, huh? What do ya think?"

Cloud reached over his shoulder and pulled out his katana. "No," he said seriously and twisted to regard Yuffie, whose smile dropped a bit, "Zack's the only one who can buy you stuff, right.?"

Yuffie bounded over to the raven-haired man, wrapping an arm around his. "Mmhmm!" she yelled into Zack's ear and he winced.

"Gaia, could you get any louder?" he complained, pushing her off. Tifa and Aeris exchanged smiles, making Zack stick out his tongue. "You don't have to laugh at my misfortune, y'know. It breaks my little heart." He lifted his hands to where his heart was, a pained look crossing his face. "I know you don't want my babies but at least take some pity on a man having his wallet hijacked by a sixteen-year-old."

Tifa's mouth parted an inch and her eyes filled with confusion. _I guess she wasn't sure that we were over,_ Zack thought, not wanting to breech the subject further. The woman was sending looks between Cloud and Aeris, her head bobbing back and forth like a deranged monster who could not decide which meal it preferred .

"Yeah, so I think we should go now." Zack looked around, forcing a bit of badly-placed laughter in hopes that the silence around him would break. Barret was staring down at Dyne, whose shallow breaths were the only token of his life. "Uh, take care of the guy," Zack added before pulling his Buster Sword from his back, raising it a few inches from his face.

While the surface shined, Zack could see the new lines of scratches that marred the otherwise beautiful surface. There was a little blood splattered against the handle and he decided when he got back to the camp – or nice dirt floor – he'd begin to clean it off. SOLDIER honor didn't have specks of gore marring the surface.

"You prayin' to some deity there or are you gonna _move_ it?" Yuffie clinked her guarded arm against Cloud, who deftly avoided her next arm swing. She huffed and crossed her arms, "Lame. You better not think just 'cos I don't have my ultra awesome shuriken I can't whoop your butts into the floor. I've got Leviathan and she's kick-ass." The girl pulled out her summons materia, letting it hang in the dim glow of the setting sun. She dangled it in front of Cloud's face before closing her fingers around the shining object.

Zack eased the Buster Sword down and gave Yuffie a perplexed look before he began to walk. "Hm, just follow me," Zack winked at Cloud, who sent him a scathing look in reply. "Ouch, don't gotta hurt me. If you were able to hurt people with those eyes I think most of the world would be dead, Cloud. You've got to learn how to not give the stink eye to guys you care about."

* * *

The area was more barren than Zack had originally thought. Nothing skittered around the ground and there were no monsters lurking in the shadows of the night. The prisoners all seemed to have a place of their own to sleep, away from the depleting, sweltering heat the day brought with it. Zack could feel his toes itch for a blanket to curl up in, a pillow below his head and a warm body next to him, lips velvety and pleasant against his collar bone.

The man sighed as he looked around, his weapon put away a little while before. No blankets or pillows or a lover to snuggle up with in the cold. While his body could take rapid changes without protest he still wanted to be a little warmer, a little more human.

Yuffie came into sight, dragging a large box behind her as she huffed and puffed. The slightly dark skin of her face was red as she ran a hand over her sweaty brow. "Ugh," she panted after every word, inhaling and exhaling the cold air, coughing a few times to get it out of her lungs, "Never–" cough, "–wanna–" sniffle, "–do that–" sneeze, "again. _Achoo_!" the Wutaian girl's body was wracked by sneezes.

Cloud tapped his foot. "You're wasting time," he cut in, "It'd be good if we could get back to the others before–" he was silenced by something inside the box springing out, hitting him square in the face.

While Cloud's eyes glazed over darkly as he leaned down to pick up the object that had attacked him, Yuffie snorted in triumph and turned to Zack. "Hey..." she said carefully, a sneaky smirk at the corners of her mouth, "you don't have to buy me anything else if you do somethin' for me."

Zack put his left foot out and folded his arms again, shrugging. "What is it you want?" he asked calmly.

Yuffie tapped her finger against her side before pointing to Cloud, who was snarling at her. "How'd that nice old pair of shorts feel on your face?" Yuffie asked curiously. Cloud responded by throwing the shorts, Zack noticed with a twinge of laughter, into the box.

"Lovely," he answered briskly as he rubbed his face with the back of his hand, "Can we go back to camp now, since you've ransacked someone's house and stole their clothing?"

Zack saw Yuffie's eyes continue to twinkle. "Nope. We've got a bargain goin' on right now. Wouldn't want anyone besides us seeing this."

"Why do you say that?" Zack's eyes narrowed and the smirk grew wider.

"Because," Yuffie said, sing-song, "you're gonna kiss him."

Mouth going dry and heart thumping against his chest, Zack looked over to Cloud, whose face did not look much different from how his own face felt. Every cell in Zack's body seemed to be reacting to Yuffie's words and he felt his face twitch. This was not good. Not good at all, if he really thought about it. Cookies and candy prices or kissing Cloud? While the latter sounded more fun (Zack mentally strangled the part of his brain which voiced the opinion) he wouldn't, _couldn't_ kiss him. So many things were wrong with the picture, not to mention the fact that it was Yuffie of all people saying it but... but...

"Oh, c'mon! It's not like I'm gonna be telling anyone. I just wanna see," the girl pouted, "You won't have to buy me any more stuff. I super secret promise over Leviathan! You can have her if I break it, 'kay?" she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

For a moment Zack was happy that he didn't sweat to the same noticeable degree that a normal human being would. If he did, there would have been a trickle of sweat making its way down the side of his face. He licked his lips; they were abnormally dry. This didn't make sense. He'd been fine a moment ago. Had Yuffie's words made him shrivel up? It was just a kiss. It could even be platonic kiss on the cheek because she hadn't specified. There was a chance, Zack thought as he felt his stomach constrict painfully and fill with jelly, that he'd be okay...

"And none of that cheesy cheek or hand stuff. Smack dab on the lips," she pointed to her own puckered lips in explanation, "Get to it or I'll get another six sodas and ice creams out of you."

Zack shook his head adamantly. Cloud didn't seem to be breathing; it was as if his face was stuck in a photograph, one that had been lit on fire and the person inside couldn't escape the scorching flames licking them, creeping closer. Without moving his lips, Cloud mumbled something that Zack, even with his advanced hearing, couldn't make out.

Yuffie worried her lip and folded her hands behind her back, stepping up on tippy-toes. "What'cha say? Huh?"

"No," Zack answered and allowed his gaze to drift away from Cloud, whose face had turned a ghostly white, "It's getting darker. We should head back before we become someone's prey. Yuffie."

The girl stubbornly stood stark-still, nothing moving besides her chest. "You're both such big morons," she commented snidely, "Never seen a bigger group of bozos. There's no excuse from you, Chocobo-ass: you're young, got those hormones goin' crazy," she tried to continue but Zack's glare seemed to stop her for a moment, "What's that for, huh?"

"We don't need to know your opinion of hormones," Cloud stated cautiously, finally taking a breath, "and no, I don't think that would be the best course of action."

"Hmph," Yuffie sneered, grabbed hold of the side of the box and pulled, "You're both no fun. Can't even do a girl a little favor? 'S not like I asked you to screw like Kalm Fangs. Jeez." She whipped her hair in front of her face and blew away some darks strands. "It was just a peck and I wouldn't want nuthin' else but 'cos you didn't do it, I'm gonna want you to get me that chocolate bear in the game room. It's supposed to weigh seven pounds. That's a lot, don'tcha think?"

Cloud shrugged his shoulders. "That thing costs four hundred gil," he remarked, twisting his head to look at Zack. The ebony-haired man felt his stomach knot again. This couldn't be happening, not happening at all. Cloud was closing his eyes and Zack slammed his own shut, too, blocking out everything. The blonde couldn't possibly be agreeing with the little brat, could he?

"It's just four hundred gil," Zack nearly swallowed his tongue and opened his eyes, rapidly blinking.

Cloud let his eyes flash open, "You're acting strange."

Zack felt a cough rising.

"You've never cared about kissing me. Gaia knows how many times you've done it. What's so different about this now?"

"Because I don't think it would be a good idea to cater to the whims of the kid," Zack explained slowly, allowing his Gongagan accent to seep through in exclamation, "Encouraging her's not a good idea. Anyway, it'd be bad. Very bad."

Yuffie screwed her face up in concentration and pulled on the box. "Whatever. Bunch of pansies," she said.

Zack rocked back on his heals, adding an arch to his stance. "That's nice," he commented, receiving another angry look from the offended girl .

"Get over yourselves," Yuffie growled. After a moment of frustration she let go of the box and kicked the side.

Zack held up his hands. "I think that you're smoking something, Yuffie," he admitted as he walked forward and grabbed the box with one hand, "Let's just go, 'kay?"

They didn't say anything on the way back. The ex-SOLDIER felt his skin crawling. Why was Yuffie pushing it so far – why the fuck was she agreeing with Red and Aeris? Surely she hadn't talked to them! Maybe she'd just caught the 'Cloud and Zack want to screw' virus. It seemed that the mutation germ was manifesting in the victim's minds, twisting their thoughts to revolving around something that Zack wasn't even sure abou–

_Why do I care so much? It's not like it's a big deal what the ninja-brat thinks. She's probably just trying to do it so that she can either get her rocks off at our discomfort or trying to find a way to make Tifa feel terrible. Yuf's got to know what Tifa thinks of Cloud... _

Zack hoisted the box a little on his shoulder and whatever was inside swayed like the skirts of the Honey-Bee girls, which was easily compared to the rags inside.

Zack was aware that it was a losing battle but he didn't want to concede defeat. He was strong-willed and had enough power to equal a hundred men but love was a game that he so rarely played. He didn't bother with most people because while they were beautiful, their hearts were not. Some scarring was normal, acceptable but it seemed that Zack had a way of feeling strong emotions (he would _not_ say love) for the broken, most used-up souls.

Reno had been, according to his uncle from the small fishing village, a wretched boy raised by a family that wasn't really his own, who felt things in his life that weren't supposed to be felt. Aeris had watched her mother die and was always in danger of the people pursuing her. While physically more intact than Reno, they were two puzzle pieces that slotted into place side-by side. Adding Cloud into the equation made Zack realize he was into people who were not normal.

_Ma would be smackin' her spatula against her thigh telling me not to say such things about people I care for, _Zack thought, allowing himself an amused snicker which the other two with him did not seem to notice. The realization struck him there like a dry lightning storm in the cold, "I miss her."

"Miss who?" Cloud questioned from behind him.

Zack winced. At least his mother was still alive, so unlike the beautiful woman Zack had seen dead – twice. "Aeris? An old girlfriend?" the blonde's voice spiked up.

Zack sighed. It would be pointless to hide it. "My ma," he said shortly and could almost hear Cloud's teeth grind, "We're near Gongaga so I want you to meet her. Promises are promises, right?"

No sound came for a minute or two before Cloud curtly replied with a huff. Surprise and hurt seemed to be disappearing from Cloud's mind. He had expected something a little flashier, a bit loud and cross and maybe even mean; Zack loved when Cloud was mean. Broken noses weren't fun but at least then he knew what the other was feeling. Sometimes Cloud was so... different. No longer did he carry his heart on his sleeve. The difference was slowly peeking through, like a worm in the middle of mud.

"She'll feed you and love you,"

"I... yeah."

Zack wanted to look over his shoulder, he did, but an invisible presence told him to keep his gaze away. Normally it was bad news not to act on his gut instincts, like grabbing Cloud from the ground that day in Nibelheim hot wiring the nearest non-toasted vehicle and getting the fuck out of town, rather than heading up the side of the mountain to face off with Sephiroth. Who knew what would have happened then. The thought had passed through his mind in a brief flash of hot-white pain. It was the same instinct that had kept him alive during his SOLDIER days before he knew how corrupted the world was. The taint of mako and gil was much stronger now than it ever had been before.

* * *

He had expected Yuffie to interrupt the silence but the only thing Zack could hear was the heels of her orange shoes hitting the floor and the fire materia, warm in her little hands, giving off a little more light in the night's haze. The guileless girl didn't become silent often. The times when she was were few and in between long stretches of bickering and fragmented nonsense sentences that came from her mouth like the lifestream burbling from the Planet.

Surprisingly, she stayed silent. The drum of their feet and the sound of their hearts and breathing intermingled with one another, a distinct sound that could not be made by any other three people. Each synchronized breath and slap of leather or rubber on asphalt, each heart beat co-existed in one solid and strumming sound. The SOLDIERs he had been with during his time at Shinra explained these moments were epiphanies and possibly ways of looking into the SOLDIERs' soul by the noises that they could hear.

Zack huffed. Bullshit. They had called it a natural high. Zack called it enhanced hearing and tunnel-vision. There would be no looking into his own soul through sound.

Angeal had called it stupid too. Sephiroth had mocked him once while on a mission because he had mentioned trying to tune into the sounds of the birds chirping above his head and the ticking of the time-bombs that surrounded the small village. If the others had known he was allowing himself to trance out in the middle of a prison, even if it did heighten his senses and perception, Zack would hardly have been shocked if a fist met his nose.

Reno had liked being rough too–

Zack immediately cut off his thoughts about the redhead Turk and concentrated on his own breathing. Not a good subject, especially where it trailed off to; the end of the rainbow was filled with blonde hair and a wickedly painful right hook or swift kick to the Fair family jewels.

They were closing back in on the camp now and Zack noticed the distinct loss of the sounds of Cloud's moving feet and steady breathing. He turned then, seeing Yuffie staring sullenly down at her shoes and Cloud a little ways behind her, dragging behind him a large metal barrel that Zack had not seen. There was a twinkling in the broken window in the building Cloud was passing but the glint of the sword on his back must have given off an impending glow. Scrawny as he may have been, at least the idiots had enough common sense.

"Need help?" Zack asked. Cloud just continued to pull the barrel, whatever was inside sloshing against the sides. He crinkled his nose in disgust. "Cloudy, I hope you didn't pick up the piss bucket."

The soft glow of the materia burned a bit brighter in Yuffie's hand. She covered her nose in mock-disgust, "Ewwy."

Cloud clucked his tongue. "It's water. Probably the only water around here – there isn't much left and it's a bit dusty but it's something. Not like we don't have tablets to make it drinkable."

Zack nodded earnestly and turned around, sucking in a cold breath through his teeth. "Yeah, we've got some of those with us."

They continued now, the sloshing of the water added to the equation of sound. Zack could see a small flame a dozen meters away and the movement of other people, signifying they were encroaching on the camp. He blinked at the smell of sulfur in the air, along with a hint of burning flesh, a rank and repelling oder.

_What the fuck are they burning over their? A human being? _

The smoke was black and the ash particles were sticking to Zack's tongue and nose and hair. It was everywhere. Coming to a stop, the man waved his free hand in front of his nose, inhaling and exhaling through his mouth. The taste was bitter like poison and thick like lead. It made his eyes water a little and the urge to sniffle or sneeze was becoming more and more acute the closer they got.

Quickly, he noticed the others' faces held the same look he was sure his own held, one of minor discomfort and blinking eyes. The only one who looked normal was Aeris, who sat next to the fire and... _it really wasn't a fire. _

Aeris had never called Ifrit while Zack was in her presence but it was easy to see the fire-coated beast with thick red flames bursting forth from the pores of his skin, singing the fur. His (its? whatever it was) had the skin peeling from the bones of its face near the horns. Its skin was melting. The smell was overpowering and each inch closer was a larger hurdle to jump over.

Aeris perked up and smiled, directing her hands to Ifrit, who blew out a few warning flames from its mouth. "Ifrit, my summon. It was getting a bit chilly."

Yuffie gagged and lost whatever bit of composure she had, falling to her knees, limbs flailing. "Ugh, nasty, nasty." The girl grabbed at her throat in pain. "I'm dying! Put it away, away!"

"You remind me of a little runt I used to run into," Zack pushed the heel of his boot lightly against the girl's side, "She moaned and bitched almost as much as you. Cutie, too. Eh, maybe it wasn't you. "

The others laughed over their gagging and Zack saw that Aeris was petting her summon, whisking him back into the dully-colored red materia, a hard look of concentration passing her face as the demon disappeared in a haze of embers and wisps of smoke.

* * *

Dyne woke up three hours into Zack and Cloud's watch. The blonde's eyes had begun to glaze over and his responses to Zack's questions or comments were laconic, brisk and if he was lucky there would be more than two words hooked on to a 'hmm'. Cloud was unusually observant about the man laying next to Barret, who was a little more worse for wear than the others in the party.

It was expected. The man must have been through fire and brimstone; no normal human would have such deep crows feet etched into his skin or the scars slashing from eye to eye. His brown hair was parted to the side by a long ridged scar. If what the two men said was true, the scar was probably from Dyne's cliff fall.

Zack had only paid attention when Cloud had pointed out that the man's breathing was becoming irregular, a common sight of waking from a deep sleep. Dyne twisted about, hitting his gunarm into the metal near his side. His eyes widened quickly and lost their sleepiness, the man bolting up, a metallic _thunk!_ coming from the barrel he kicked.

Cloud had the man pinned with his upper body before Zack could move. He pressed Dyne down into the dirt, preventing his movements. "Don't move or I swear to Gaia," he whispered.

The brown-haired man stayed deathly still. Zack moved a little, kicking Barret in the kneecap. The resounding "Fuck!" echoed in the prison and the desert, barren of life, was filled for the briefest moment with the sounds of the living. The others stirred, Cait's eyes suddenly filling with light as his engines whirred. Even Red cracked his eye open, mouth wide in a yawn. The girls were more subtle except for Yuffie, who just rolled over and continued to snore.

"He's up," Zack said as he pointed to Cloud with his thumb. When their dirty looks snapped away from his and toward Cloud and Dyne, whose eyes were still gleaming in what the ebony-haired man could only call puissant warning: 'Fuck with me and I'll kill you'. While Cloud had a face many would consider innocent, below lurked a monster that was willing to unleash itself on any threat.

Cloud stayed that way for another confused moment before Barret told him to move his scrawny ass, which he did immediately. "You're up," Barret said as he lifted his hand to the man's forehead, feeling for a temperature or any other sign that the man he hovered over was not the man he once was.

"Why wouldn't you just let me die?" Dyne asked as he pulled his head away from Barret's touch, "I've got nothing and you couldn't even let me die in the fuckin' way I wanted to. Selfish. Always have been, haven't ya, Barret."

Barret shrugged and attempted to hide the hurt from his black eyes. Zack could see he words cut the leader of Avalanche deep. This guy really was someone that Barret cared for. A brother with a different colored skin and different families but a brother nonetheless.

Zack sighed and turned his head away from the scene, meeting the gazes of his other companions head-on without hesitation.

"Don't matter what I'm feelin'. We're both selfish. You gotta undastand where I'm comin' from. I love Marlene. She's mah baby and there's nuthin' that'll ever change that.

"But you ain't gotta right to go tryin' to kill yourself rather than facin' the facts. She don't know you, but she'll love you 'cos you're there now. Don't ya get it? She's just a baby an' that means that if you come in right now, you can make a life wit' her too. I ain't givin' her to ya – we're both important. You don't got a right to deny that baby a chance of knowin' her papa, both by blood an' by heart."

Dyne swallowed. Hard. "Don't need you of all people telling me what to do with my life. I wanted ta end it there! Is it such a damned important thing? I've _killed_ people, lots of innocents and kids and I shot up that entire place when they told me I couldn't get another fuckin' barrel of water down here. I'm supposed to run this joint..." he sat up and waved his hands around the encroaching dark, "Ain't this a fuckin' nice place to raise a little girl. No man here'd give more than a second of thought before stickin' their cocks in her. I can't raise her here. I've got another year before they'll allow me out.

"Bet they think it was me who shot up that Battle Arena but Dio don't want ta admit he hire a fuckin' raging berserk bastard to take care of his prison. Saw you get thrown in a little after they were all caught. Girl said she'd seen the guy with a gunarm and money'll twist anyone into thinking the big white guy was a black one instead."

Zack wanted to say something, anything, but nothing would come out. He wouldn't allow himself to say something. This was Barret's moment, Barret's pride. He sat back a little bit and looked over to Cloud, who was rubbing his hand over his arm. "What're ya doin'?" Zack whispered.

Cloud gave a half-hearted smile. "Listening," he said.

Zack sighed and knew that there was no other answer that he would get, refocusing his attention on the two men, who were locked in a staring competition.

"I killed people too, probably a whole lotta innocents but that don't mean that the bigger picture ain't any less clear. I'm in a 'terrorist' organization, Dyne. You think I don't got my fingers covered in blood? I do but I still hold Marlene – she don't care 'bout the stains. You can't jus' think that death is better than life.

"You an' I can be selfish together!" Barret's voice was compelling now and Zack could see why he was the leader of Avalanche, "You can make it through the next howeva long. I got a job to do righ' now and then, when it's done, we can go see her. She's wit' a real nice lady, that girl's mama," Barret shook his head to Aeris, who seemed to snap from her reverie, looking down and crossing her hands.

"Better be taking care of her," Dyne winced as he tried to stand, only to fall back with a loud thud. He hissed in pain. "Help me up. Need to get you over to the elevator. I can get a chocobo race scheduled for good behavior. Ain't nothin' good about your behavior but I don't need to see your shit faces in my prison."

"Thanks, Dyne," Barret broke into a smile. Zack pretended he didn't see the tear in his eye.

"Well, you fuckin' lose and I won't be so lenient. Need to figure things out 'round here."

* * *

Zack stared at the monitor in front of him with the other members of Avalanche, all watching with rapt attention at the little pixel chocobos of a plethora of colors: sky blues next to bright yellows with big red ones and even a black sidled side by side, beak to beak. Cloud, the only one who had remotely enough experience and stability, was their champion. Aeris couldn't hold the feathers right, according to Dyne; Tifa's chest was not aerodynamic; Yuffie couldn't hold her stomach, otherwise she would have been perfect; Barret was way too damn big and Red could have run faster than the damn birds.

Zack... Zack just wanted to watch Cloud do it.

"Aw, c'mon, Cloudy. You're good at riding chocobos. They'll take one look at your hair and they'll probably let you win. You're the only one who can do it otherwise we're stuck down here drinking dirt-water and hiding from a bunch of gangs that want to kill us. And if you fail, y'know, we'll all get stuck down here. No pressure, of course."

The woman, Esther, who was looking mighty strange with her makeup and pink bows on her dress, had hooked Cloud up with the best chocobo she could find. It was a rather strange bird with a tendency to crane its head to the side in the starting area, pecking the other chocobos. Cloud was trying to keep the bird placated, even though through the screen Zack could tell that he was thinking of ways to kill the uncooperative bird beneath him. It would make a very nice seven course meal by the time the race was over.

Allowing his body to relax, Zack followed the numbers on the bottom of the screen and the names next to them:

'Cloud Strife – Loser'.

What kind of dumbass name was _that?_ Zack wondered.

The camera continued to pan over the setting. "...and they must cross the bridge..." the announcer droned on, Zack hearing the faint sound of fingers clicking against the microphone through the television.

"Chocobo-butt better not lose," Yuffie said as she swallowed a sip of her strawberry milk, which she had swiped from the man at the control tower. Yuffie blew air through the bubblegum pink straw, the equally pink liquid inside foaming. "I'm not staying down here 'cos he lost to his dang uncles and aunties. He doesn't want to see me mad."

Tifa tucked her hand under her chin. Next to her, Aeris spun around a little in the computer chair. "He won't lose," Tifa admonished, staring down at Yuffie. Zack saw the woman's eyes filled with determination. No matter what, to Tifa Lockhart, Cloud just couldn't fail. Besides, it would suck if he did, Zack admitted to himself as he propped his back against the filing cabinet. Tifa firmly finished, "He knows that he really needs to win this."

"He don't an' I'm gonna teach his ass some lessons," Barret said from the other side of the small, dilapidated office. He couldn't have been more at home, standing beside several crates of weaponry, "I'm gunna shove this gun so far up his ass he's gunna be cryin' for months."

Zack rolled his eyes, "Leave Cloud's ass alone. He's already got a stick hidden up there somewhere."

_And anyway, Cloud's ass isn't Barret's to touch... wait, what? Huh? _Zack felt perplexed. He ran a hand through his hair and scratched his nose before taking a look down at the screen, Cloud's stoic face... certainly not smiling but just looking, back at him. Since when was he being possessive over an ass? In words, for that matter? _It's certainly not __**my **__ass. Maybe, perhaps, could be possibly... maybe I'm sick? _

"Ooooh, look! His chicken's moving faster than the other ones!" Yuffie yelled, spilling a little of her milk down her shirt, pointing her strawberry-flavored hand at the screen as six birds flew by in a rainbow of colors. Zack squinted. He saw two tufts of blonde hair and decided there was no other human on the Planet whose hair was definable in the dictionary as 'Chocobo Ass'.

It didn't smell like that, though... Zack mused, though he kept part of his mind and eyes firmly set on the screen._ He smells like cherry blossoms and why in Holy am I thinking about what he smells like?_

"And they are now coming around the bend, Loser in the lead by fifteen beaks and it's going to be a close one, yes it is. Please hold out your tickets and pray to Dio that this is your lucky day and," the announcer coughed into his hand and the crowd took a collective gasp, "and it is number four who wins tonight's chocobo race. Cloud Strife and Loser coming in with three beaks to spare and..."

The commenter's voice continued to drone on. Zack pushed himself away from the filing cabinet and launched his arms around Yuffie, who was squealing and throwing her drink everywhere. Zack could taste the strawberry milk on his lips. He let his happiness burst forth.

"He did it, he did it!" Zack chimed and Yuffie soon caught on and for a few minutes after the results came in they all danced in the small over-crowded office, stepping on papers that were probably important, soaking furniture with pink milk. Dancing to the terribly repetitive music blaring forth from the speakers, Zack allowed himself to rejoice without caring about Sephiroth and Tifa and Shinra and Aeris.

"Here comes da man of the hour," Barret said when the elevator's doors opened and there wasn't a touch of malice to his tone.

Zack smiled, let Yuffie go – she was spinning around and jumping, her plight for sleep earlier in the night forgotten – and jumped at Cloud the moment his spiky, bright yellow hair and pink, flushed face entered the room. The ex-SOLDIER knocked his friend to the floor.

"Cloudy,_ you _did it!" he wailed, burying his head in the other's hair. _Yes, it does still smell like cherries. _Zack let some of the murky pink liquid drip onto Cloud's face from his somewhat wet spikes.

"Yeah, I guess I did," Cloud sounded tired but pleased.

"Did the chocobos mix you up for their relative?"

"No," Cloud said. Zack could feel the muscles below him shudder and release, all of the stress and tension disappearing.

"Well, that's a bit disappointing," Zack said and allowed himself to breathe. Zack didn't care.

* * *

**This is now officially the longest chapter that I've ever written. I will go die now. Anyway, we have movement! In the next chapter, you'll finally get a taste of what is to come... but that is all I have to say on that right now. **

**Please Review! **


	56. The Long Drive Home

Author Notes: Guess what? I'm finally getting the ball rolling—quite quickly too, I might add. Woohoo!

**NOTICE: As of July 7th, this chapter has been betaed by the gracious and awesometastical unwinding fantasy! Yaya for unwinding!**

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII and its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Fifty Six: The Long Drive Home

The air was pleasantly crisp as it went about whipping around the exit to the Gold Saucer. Zack had never been happier to see the long, winding road before him, a few towns dotting the distance. The Gongagan River loomed ahead, light blues and greens and the soft bristling trees hung near the water's edge. It was as beautiful as it always had been. He remembered only crossing the river a few times in his life; each was a memory stored deep within his head where nothing could touch it.

He couldn't see his hometown over the large, gnarled trees on the other side of the shore. While Zack wished he could, there was something inside inhibiting him from making any real attempt to see, something deadly like the poisons of the monsters surrounding his hometown, like the majestic bugs the size of the town's schoolhouse where Zack had spent so much of his time before the night Reno had shown up. The Mako Reactor had just been built and Reno... Reno had been on a mission.

Zack sighed and looked at the vehicle Dyne had convinced Dio to give to them, a hideous red van. The people from the travel agency had looked at them wearily before handing over the keys and a letter, one that Zack had tossed in the back under Mog and a few bags. The large stuffed animal sat there unmoving – he couldn't even hear the engines on – while Cait sat on Aeris' lap. Zack thought that the sight was adorable: robot cat stretched out with Aeris tickling him behind the ears. She turned her head a little, catching Zack's eyes, mouthing, "He's sleeping."

Beside her, Tifa had folded her feet below herself. Red was squeezed into the space between Aeris and the door. Zack wondered how uncomfortable the poor beast was. All he could see was the glowing tail resting across Aeris' feet.

He nodded and shut the back carefully to not make any sound. It was early in the morning, the sun finally coming up over the horizon. When they got back to their hotel room (Dio having refunded them and organising a penthouse for the trouble they'd been through) they only were able to collect a few meager hours of sleep.

Or some of them were. Zack couldn't sleep.

Instead, he laid there in the pristine white sheets, allowing his thigh to barely touch Cloud's. The blonde moved once or twice to escape the heat Zack was emitting and each time, no matter how expected, Zack would suck his breath in. He could feel his body quiver for a moment; something was not right. What it was... he knew but... but...!

Zack looked through the window as he passed the driver's seat. Cloud was propped up with his left hand against the glass, head resting in the crook of his arm. His eyes were open enough to see the light blue of his irises but they were clouded with tiredness. Yuffie, who was next to him, sat surprisingly quiet, her own head dug into the seat between them and legs splayed across the back of the seat. Zack snickered when he saw that her shoelace was tickling Red's nose.

He opened the door and slipped into the seat, putting his hands on the wheel. "I hate driving vans," he muttered to Barret, who was wiping his eyes, "Makes me feel like one of those moms on the Upper Plate who drive their children everywhere. Or like the Turks; don't know how many times Reno told me that he had to drive Rufus 'round town."

Barret was so out of it that he didn't even utter a syllable of anger about the Turk. "Yeah, yeah, that's great. Get ta drivin'."

Zack sighed, took a deep breath and looked at the road ahead. He twiddled his left hand against the cold steering wheel while the other pulled the keys out. There was a small ridge at the top of the key: owned by Shinra. Dio had said nothing about the car being made by Shinra. If Zack knew the Company, there would be a nano-chip somewhere in the vehicle that would send out information to a large data center somewhere in the Shinra Headquarters.

Didn't matter though. The Turks probably knew where they were and were tracking them around the globe. While they had said their mission to find and destroy Avalanche didn't hold water to their new one, Zack knew that more than one of the Turks held a vendetta against him or one of his friends. They were all blissfully unaware of the danger in their sleep and for that Zack smiled.

"Why you takin' so long?" Barret asked.

Zack spun the keychain around his finger then put the key into the machine, turning it with a resounding click. Covered in dirt or not, the thing ran smoothly. He moved the mirrors and turned the air conditioner on half-power, answering, "Just thinking. Nothing important or life-threatening. People can do that, y'know. I drift off more than people like sometimes. Habit that my old mentor found absolutely hilarious. Called me a puppy for it." A bitter smile slipped onto his lips as he continued to fiddle around with the hanging mirror. For some reason it just wouldn't go in the direction he wanted it to.

"What happened to him?"

"Died. Had me do it, too. Zack the Puppy, killing his master." If possible, the melancholy smile intensified. "Never done a harder thing..." He continued to drum his fingers against the rapidly cooling leather and said, "The air conditioner bothering you?"

Barret said nothing. Zack really didn't want him to. Instead, he fixed the mirror again.

Cloud's face shined back in the reflective surface.

* * *

They stopped only twice in small towns to refill the car with refined mako. At each pause, Barret would curse, causing the entire car to stir. Aeris stayed awake after the first stop, staring out the window with wonder. Her eyes remained closed for most of the trip but her lips would move and her porcelain face would contort on occasion. Zack imagined that the Planet would be loud, so far away from Midgar.

Cloud, when he'd wake every few hours, would ask if Zack was tired and if he could drive instead. The boy's eyes were wide, even while filled with sleep. Even though he would've enjoyed a nap, Zack shook his head each time and leaned through the area between his and Barret's seat to shake Cloud's head with an affectionate noogie. "Get back to sleep. I'm perfectly fine, mako and all."

The blonde would nod tiredly and shrug. "Whatever. Just wake me up whenever you get tired and I'll take over for you," and with that he would drift back off into the oblivion of sleep. He'd twitch when Zack would take the ugly red van across a pothole in the road and so to save himself from having to deal with Cloud waking to ask the same question (and continuously receive the same response) he avoided as many cracks in the road as possible.

The sun was already bright in the sky as the car lurched near the edge of the river, Zack slamming his foot down onto the brakes, rocking the entire vehicle. Too bad for those who were sleeping in the car; a collective yell of protest came from everyone besides Red and himself.

"What do ya think you're doin', punk-ass?!"

"Gaia! Cait, let go of my leg!"

"Holy shit!"

"_Aaaaahhhhh! I don't wanna die!_ "

"I'm sorry, missy!"

"Fuck! Zack!"

Zack laughed cautiously as he turned around, an embarrassed smile across his face. His hands rose of their own accord, proclaiming their owners' idiocy. There were many angry faces staring back at him. For a moment he thought about cracking a joke to break the ice...

"I swear I wasn't trying to kill you," he said weakly to the withering glares. The chuckle he allowed to escape his lips in hopes of calming his companions came to a halting stop. Zack swallowed. "I, uh, needed to switch the gears, and kinda forgot about it until the last second. SOLDIER vehicles don't need to get changed but these civilian ones do. Uh, yeah."

Someone swore. Crickets chirped. Zack was sure he heard someone in the back crack their knuckles.

"Okie-dokie. Uh, Cloud, come help me switch the front?"

Cloud nodded and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before reaching down and unbuckling his seatbelt. There was a vivid red mark across the bridge of his nose that matched the stitching of his standard SOLDIER uniform. Behind Cloud, Zack could see Tifa, her hand covering her mouth. There was delight in her eyes as she whispered something to Aeris, who sniggered.

"Wha'?" Cloud asked as he pulled on his shirt.

Zack turned back around to unbuckle himself and turned the van off. He tossed the keys onto the dashboard before flipping the button on the door. The doors unlocked and he opened it, the deep smell of water and moss greeting his senses.

"Come on, Cloudy-boy. Let's get this done quickly so that we can get to Gongaga before the sun sets," he insisted. Impatience stemmed from his words like a bloom fighting to come before the spring, a bright white-petaled flower surrounded by snow, shivering in the cold of the season. "I really don't wanna die before we get there," he added.

The door opened and the SOLDIER looked over his shoulder. Cloud was a bit wobbly on his feet for a moment before he noticed that others could see his wavering. Straightening his back, the boy locked his legs. "Just came out of a hypnagogic state. Give me two seconds and I'll be fine," he said. Leaning on the car door, he took a few breaths, his eyes daring anyone to challenge his welfare.

Zack ignored the warning. "First off," he advised, grabbing Cloud by the shoulders and pulling him away from the door, his knees unlocking. "Don't say big words when you've just woken up. Second, don't lock your knees, dumbass. You'll end up passing out and breaking your skull. Don't need that right now or, well, ever."

Cloud shook his legs and smacked Zack's hand away. "I"m fine, fine, fine," he said, soliciting a huff from the others. The red mark seemed to grow larger.

"And maybe you shouldn't fall asleep on your shirt. Leaves a, uh," Zack rubbed his fingertips across his own nose, "mark."

Someone rapped their hand against the window. The two turned from one another to look to the van's window where Yuffie was waving her hands around manically. There was squealing and faces as she pressed her lips to the window, leaving a bubble of spit and lipbalm. She pointed at the two of them. Somewhere inside Zack's head he was sure Yuffie was being run over by a chocobo.

"Let's ignore twit-face," he suggested, turning away from the window, clasping his hand on Cloud's shoulder.

"Yeah, she's getting progressively more annoying as we go. I figured the four-hundred gil chocolate you bought would keep her occupied a bit longer but this morning when I went to wake her all that was left was one little foot."

"Shouldn't be surprised. Grab the other side of the hood – we've got to fiddle with the little switch that looks like it has a face." Zack put his left hand inside the machine and the other on his forehead, "and you should have kissed me – there wouldn't be any problem with the – fuck!" This last as the hood of the car crashed down on Zack's finger.

Cloud pulled the other side up from its mysterious fall. A blue appendage shined against the red backdrop... no, that was blood.

"Ahhh! You made me bleed! I'm dying, I'm dying!" Zack moaned piteously as he waved his finger in front of Cloud's face. Blood oozed forth like the green and blue river in their way before Cloud grabbed him by the wrist. He rolled his eyes and pinched the wound.

For a moment neither knew what to do.

"_Oooooooowwwwwwww!_ " Zack screamed louder. Jolting his hand away from Cloud (the menace who just wanted to hurt him, a part of Zack's mind swore loudly), he pushed the bleeding thumb into his mouth, "You want to get my fingers cut off, don'tcha?As if hitting me in the face isn't bad enough, now you've gotta go taking off my fingers?"

Mako was beginning to hiss inside the wound. Cloud snatched the hand gently, prying open Zack's lips to remove it. "Let go," the blonde chastised.

His fingers were warm and clean, much unlike Zack's own. The bloody mess slipped from Zack's mouth. Cloud coaxed it far enough away that he was able to swath his shirt around the injury, cleaning the blood, black smudges from the inside of the car, mako and saliva away.

"Not too bad," Cloud stated, giving the finger one final inspection.

"For almost losing it," Zack added bitterly. For a moment he debated whether pouting was an option.

_Fuck it,_ his mind said, _he nearly took off your damn thumb. Pout as much as you please._

"Did my thumb ever do anything to you?" he began, "Well, besides pinching your ass?"

"Didn't mean to, for once."

"Oh_ sure_, Cloud. Strife. Meany. You just accidentally dropped a van hood on my hand–"

Cloud cut him off with a pointed glare. "_Yes_, it was an accident. I just woke up and was stumbling around a second before you asked me to help you lift something heavy. Not a smart idea on your part." A deep green rolled from Cloud's hands, ghosting across the mako-healing wound. It felt fuzzy; there was less pain but it was a strange sensation, like spiders crawling over his skin, their legs skittering. The magic glued the wound together, knitting the skin, returning the purple bruising to the naturally honey tone of his fingers.

"Thanks, Cloud," he said as he assessed the lack of damage. The only reminder of the incident was the pinkness of some of Zack's skin and the sticky redness that coated Cloud's fingers. Zack raised his eyebrows, "You've got my blood all over you."

Cloud took another side of the shirt and wiped the remained fluid from their hands. Mako blue eyes stared intently down at the appendage and that fluttering feeling once again enveloped Zack's stomach, wracking his body with jitters.

"There, it's fixed. Let's get back to work then. You said it looks like it's a face, right?"

Blinking, the black-haired man nodded his head, not quite sure what he was answering to. "Uh, yeah. Right. Whatever ya say, Cloudy."

The blonde's response was turning back to the hood, prying up the top. "Then you better help me look for it."

They set back to their task. Every now and then he would point something to Cloud and tell him to press it in or pull it out. Cloud responded a few times with a snarky comment like, "I don't think it'd be smart to pull the entire component out of the car, Zack", but otherwise the few minutes passed in a blur. Autopilot. He felt like his body was on autopilot while his mind ran around in dubious circles. Each lap would dig a little more dirt out, spitting it around him. There was an increasingly large hole and thus his mind began to play around with him.

_I'm fine. Perfectly fine. Don't see why this is getting and deeper. _

_**You aren't fine. You are acting like an immature child. **_

_Hardly. It's you who keeps butting into my head. Worst timing in history, actually. Last thing I need is to get something else dropped on me. _

**It was an accident... I believe. Either way, it does not matter. You need to realize what you are and what you need to do. **

_What I am? What I need to do?_

_**Yes. You can continue to run around here in your mind, fiddling with your car, pretending you did not enjoy his skin on your hand or you can admit the truth. He's admitted it to himself. Anyone besides Tifa and perhaps Barret has noticed this. **_

_My own damn subconscious is fighting me about who I am attracted to. You're not helping; you're like the hatred in me that doesn't like to leave me alone, right? You want to eat my soul and turn it into a pile of garbage, right?_

_**You're a bigger idiot than I presumed. **_

_But... his hands were warm. I don't feel many things to do with temperature but they were warm and beautiful and no... _

_**Accept it already. It's been this way for far longer than you can imagine. There is no reason for you to refuse to accept your destiny. **_

* * *

_  
_With the car's internal structure configured to give the vehicle hovercraft capabilities, Zack got back in and buckled his seatbelt, turning to the other passengers. Barret and Yuffie were staring with undiluted shock, while Aeris and Red in the back seat were conversing with one another. Cait had climbed on top of Tifa's head, covering her face but he could feel the smoldering red embers staring into him even through the mechanical cat's head.

Cloud opened the door and got in, laying his head back against his arm. The imprint was finally fading from his face; the only sign it had ever been there was the thin pink line across his nose and cheeks.

Zack noticed he made sure to pull up his sleeve this time.

Yuffie switched her open-mouthed staring to the blonde, who pointedly ignored her.

"Uh, okay then," Zack said aloud. The only person who seemed to hear was Tifa, who pulled Cait off her head and plonked him in Aeris' lap. The other woman smiled coyly before continuing to stroke the cat's fur in what Zack could see was an apology.

Aeris looked up from her work and winked. The green of her eyes was a bit duller, a little sad. What had he done? Had a little skirmish broken out in the van when he and Cloud had gone to fix the motor? Had someone insulted someone's shoes or hair? Had Yuffie done something?

Zack moved his stare to Yuffie, who was now sitting with her arm wrapped around her knees, picking at the link on her khaki shorts. Her armor was in the back along with Mog and in the daylight Zack could see a rather nasty burn across the expanse between the Wutaian girl's hand and her elbow. Probably did something that she wasn't supposed to.

Zack turned his gaze from the grizzly scar to her bright gray eyes. No, she hadn't done anything, the man surmised. There wasn't the faintest bit of anger in her face. All that was there was undiluted shock.

"Uh, everyone can swim, right?" he tried jokingly. Dead silence met his question. "Uh, okay... no funny joke time today. Doesn't matter. You know what does matter though?"

"Wha'?" Barret asked, tapping the ex-SOLDIERs shoulder to catch his attention. Barret was staring out the window, not looking him in the eye. Strange for Barret of all people to be asking rather than brashly smacking him across the head and telling him to hurry up.

"Well, we're gonna be in Gongaga soon. I figured you all need a good meal that can burn a hole through your stomach and tongue. Maybe a nice bed too. I know all of the townspeople so I can get us into the nicest rooms. Plus," Zack looked around again uncomfortably.

_Why is everyone staring at me? Is that even Red's eye looking through the crack in the seats? _

He continued, "Well, I'm sure someone can tell us if they've seen Sephiroth. While he's a SOLDIER, he's still human, to a degree. He's got to be going into towns to gather supplies. It's not like he can disappear into nothingness, right?"

_Even Genesis and Angeal needed to eat. And I've seen seen Sephiroth drink coffee, have a beer in a pub, eat muffins that one of Reno's ex-girlfriends made for Tseng and the other Turks (though I still am confused as to why she would make them and not poison them... They force-fed him one and all he said was that it tasted a bit chocolatey...) He's taken a piss with his men, had showers... Even if he's a monster now, he's still a little bit human. _

Someone agreed – probably Cloud or Red – and the desire to turn around and ignore the eyes on him was overwhelming. "Well then, guess we'd better get to it."

Zack grabbed the keys from the dashboard, turned on the van and pressed the gas pedal, sending the speedometer tapping against the far side.

The water had been deep for the first forty miles or so but after covering such a long distance and with only a few minutes left to go (the tank of mako rapidly depleting from the high speeds and different motor), Zack was able to relax in the shallows.

Yuffie had gotten sick in the back and Cloud was cautiously tapping his hand against her back. Zack wasn't sure that was helping too much considering the girl squirmed and cursed him, along with several Wutaian deities and every monster, plant, and summons materia she ever held. Aeris had sent her a soothing Esuna spell but it hadn't done much more than Zack had expected.

At present, Cloud was looking a little peaky as well but he was faring much better than the ninja.

"We're almost there: just have to go through the trees and we will be at forest. Good thing, too, eh? We'll pick up some food from that settlement on the outskirts of the forest and then make our way in. It's only a little after noon so we've got time to eat."

"Bad choice a words, Spiky," Barret said over the sound of vomiting, "You're gunna make her sick again."

"Hey, she's the one that had to eat a four-hundred gil bear made out of chocolate. I didn't shove it down your throat, did I, sweetheart?"

Her response was more vomiting and a string of vulgar words mixed with Wutainese.

"Hey, I'm not _that_," Zack snickered, pressing his foot down on the brake lightly, causing the van to stop short. From the complaint from Yuffie, it seemed as if she would shut up, at least for a little while.

* * *

The first sight the group met as they went through the bushland was tall trees and a dirty sky. It didn't look like natural colors hanging above the forest or the road leading toward Gongaga and the reactor. The murkiness reminded Zack of when the annual Mako Reactor cleaning project was delayed: the stench was there, in the branches, melted to the ground and the monsters.

But it was home.

Never had each passing tree looked so beautiful or each monster that chased after the now-clean red van so powerful. A hit at fifty miles per hour was more than likely to take its head off, but none of that matter. These were the roots of his home, of a long-passed childhood.

_I hope Ma doesn't beat me to death with her wooden spoons,_ Zack thought, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand,_ No contact for five years. When I got to Midgar with Cloudy I should have sent her a letter or something. She and Dad, they never did really support me running off to be a SOLDIER. I wonder if they'd be proud of where I made it. I wonder if they'll be proud of where I am now. _

_Having a fugitive for a son'll be nerve wracking for them; they never were good with me acting like an idiot. Still, she and Dad got married young. I guess they're probably expecting babies from me. _

_Never thought I'd skip over the Fair crazy genes. Wonder if they'll be disappointed. _

Zack looked into the mirror; Cloud's face was turned to the side as he spoke softly to Yuffie, who was finally calming down enough to keep her head out of her bag of regurgitated chocolate. His eyes shined brightly, the mark of a SOLDIER.

_I wonder if they'd be happy to know that their son might be falling in love with his best friend while his ex-girlfriend, a canine/feline and a ninja kid scheme away to make sure it happens. I wonder what Ma'd do to Cloud... Wonder what Cloud would do to me. I shouldn't even be listening to this Gaia damned voice in my head but my heart, what 'bout that? Do I listen to a lump of organ? It beats hard._

"Zack, if you don't look at the road, you're going to crash," Cloud said scathingly, "I don't know about you but I'd rather not have to scrape someone's brains off a tree trunk."

Snapping from his thoughts, the black-haired man shook his head and blinked, trying to bring himself back to the real world. "Hn, 'kay," he said, "Guess you're right but we wouldn't have to scrape anything, considering the fact that the bugs would eat it all before–"

"Ugh, no bugs!" Yuffie wailed, covering her ears, "No bugs! No bugs!"

"Okay, no bugs," Zack lifted his hands off the steering wheel, putting them behind his head. While the position was fairly comfortable, the screams in the car were not. "Ha! No hands!" he laughed.

"You're going to crash, you moron!" Cloud yelled, kneeing the back of the chair.

The ex-SOLDIER sighed and put his hands back down. "Fine, fine," he mumbled, "you get what you want. No more taking hands off wheel, gotcha. Anyway, we're getting close. I think I see the reactor..."

Zack felt his throat constrict. The reactor was deformed, the hulking metal twisted into an ugly, unknown shape. The steel spikes stuck out at strange angles and the pipes... There was the smell of mako permeating the air. It was almost as bad as sitting in the middle of the Nibelheim Reactor. The odor made Zack's eyes twitch.

The van slowed as they got further into the trees; they were thinning out from the large oaks to dying saplings. The ground was indented with the metal and the green ooze of mako that the broken reactor still seemed to spurt out sporadically. The whole scene was ugly, far uglier than Midgar had ever been. This was nature perverted beyond hope.

Home... this was home, now? What about Gongaga? Where was the town he grew up in? Was anyone alive? Why was the reactor blown up...?

There was a tear. Zack sucked in a breath, his entire mouth shaking and he wiped his eyes quickly.

_Ma... Shit. _

Someone tapped their hand on Zack's shoulder. It was a warm and comforting hand, one that understood his pain and he didn't have to turn around to know whose body was attached to it. A calming presence, one that few gave off. Considering Aeris was in the back seat it was no surprise that when he turned his face, big blue eyes stared back at him.

"Here, c'mon," Cloud said, "I'll drive. Just unlock the door."

Zack shook his head. "Naw, its fine." He looked away from the blonde and to the others who were staring mournfully at the reactor's twisted metal. "I'm fine. The town's here somewhere. It has to be."

The air tasted wrong but the violet-eyed man inhaled a little more, allowing himself to cough weakly, waving his hand away from anyone's touch. "I'm fine, really," he interjected, shaking his head more emphatically now, pulling on the steering wheel. He slowly allowed his foot to ease off the brakes. The van moved slowly like a slug but it continued forward, passing by the trees and the misshaped steel and iron that pierced the sides of the winding road.

Passing by the reactor's front was only as difficult as his mind made it, Zack noticed as he stared straight ahead, pretending there was nothing in front of him but the pristine, newly-built reactor. Buildings, big wooden homes and businesses would be in the town, scarcely touched by the plague of Shinra. Gongagans could survive the deadliest of storms, the coldest and hottest seasons and the Fair Curse. They were probably in town, already planning how to fix this.

"Anyone know how long it's been like that?"

For a moment the only answer to his question was the beating in his ears and then Yuffie coughed. "Uh," she scrambled, "four years?" She scratched her head briefly, then counted on her fingers. "One, two, three, four," each finger went up but the thumb, which stayed firmly tucked down. "Yeah, I was about twelve. So it's been, like, four years."

"Nice of you to tell me now."

"It's not like I remembered, dude! I swear on my honor as princess, nyuk!" Yuffie yelled, slamming her hands down on Cloud's, which was still on Zack. Why Cloud's hand was still on his shoulder, he wasn't sure, but the new weight was a little annoying. Unnatural.

"Everything's fine anyway – I'm sure of it." Zack cracked a half-hearted, watery smile.

_Thing can't be bad in the town. It'll be as beautiful as it was when I was a kid. The tantalizing aroma of freshly baked bread and Gongagan stew. Little kids running around the schoolhouse's playground. Some snot'll try to climb the tree in the back and end up falling. The Elders have a full-cure, so the punk won't end up dead. Somewhere a mom'll be serving her husband a malt whiskey and he'll kiss her on the cheek and pull out his carving knife. Teenage girls will write sappy poems to their boyfriends so that they can give them to them at school or send them off to a larger city. There's an older boy drinking his first beer in the pub. He'll go and climb a tree to his special, secret place. _

But as the car once again lurched to a halt, the truth dawned on Zack, brighter than the sun through the trees and the chirping of the monsters. The schoolhouse was gone. In its place were grave stones, a slew of the dead.

A cemetery built over a future. How fitting.

The three Turks hidden between the headstones and dying blooms were more of the truth. One in particular was on a headstone, lying on his back. Wisps of cigarette smoke surrounded Reno. A reminder, Zack thought, of how ruthless the Turks were. They could sit on someone's grave, a _Gongagan_ grave and suck the nicotine out of their little sticks and pretend like they weren't surrounded by the dead.

"Those little fuckers," Zack swore.

Violent green eyes stared at him. The man's mouth turned into a sneer.

"Guess we better get out of the car and give them a piece of my mind," Zack snapped, turning to the others. With an air of determination, Zack nodded before unlocking the door and exiting the van. His Buster Sword was in the back, hidden between Mog the stuffed moogle and Yuffie's bags of candy but that wasn't a problem.

If it came down to it, he resolved as he flexed his fingers, he'd gladly punch someone's face in.

* * *

**And that is where this chapter ends... but guess what? Zack's admitted that he could possibly... haha. We all know it is true!**

**Please Review! **


	57. Notice on the Walls

Author Notes: And a little nudge more to the rolling ball... and just as a notice—the chapter length is growing rapidly. These are going to get longer and longer and longer. I've cut out a lot of the chapters because of this. And anyone who is worried about the story now going too fast, trust me that it won't be. I'll still be adding chapters in here and there and the interludes (and all of those things are important, you know...), so don't worry about the length of the projected chapters.

Sorry this took so long, too. It's epic length. Nearly killed me, writing it. But... it needed to happen.

**NOTICE: As of July 14th, this chapter has been betaed by the flippin' god of betaing, unwinding fantasy. Allow her to poke at your soul a little bit. **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever of Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Fifty Seven: Notice on the Walls

Reno's face was turned away now even though Zack knew the redhead had seen and acknowledged his presence. The cigarette dangled from his fingers and he raised it to take a languid puff.

"Y'know, I know you got the hots for Tifa. What about her ain't likable? Except for that personality; her tits make up for that though," Reno snickered.

"Just ignore him," Zack whispered to the woman who was climbing out of the van, her eyes glinting dangerously at the Turk's comment, "I'll take care of him."

"What about Tseng?" she asked. Zack groped for a name somewhere in his mind but there was nothing but a beeping of confusion and bright blonde hair. "Who is he interested in?"

"He's got it for the Ancient. Got a thing for virgins. Don't see why he's with the new one; it's not really like him. He's been with more virgin ass than I have and I'm good with getting them to pull up their skirts. She's probably been with half of Sector Seven... well, what was once Sector Seven, anyway. Can't say there's much left of it now."

Zack felt his skin bubble with nerves. His finger's tendons stretched inside of his hands and Zack balled them into fists. How _dare_ he! How could he sit above a grave, smoking his cigarette and act like what he had done, what she had done, was not an atrocity to human life? Like the person's grave below him was not important, either? Thousands of anonymous people dead in the slums but _here_...

_These are my people. My childhood lives in these stones, this ground. I played in the tree over their heads, swung from the branches onto the top of the schoolhouse's roof. I nearly fell through it and into the older kid's class. He lies there like he has a right to it, a right to rub salt straight into my wounds. Reno, when did you become so heartless? When does the Turk Reno end and the Real Reno begin? You weren't like this before. I was always able to tell with a flicker of my eyes which you were... How did you change so much?_

"And as you know, I'm still getting through my _puppy_ love," Reno jested as he dug the tip of his fag into the granite rock, allowing the stub to fall into some flowers next to the grave. "Isn't very hard. Sex wasn't that great if you know what I mean. Puppies are too immature to give good head – like to slobber and can't hold their own. Funny and cute but so very boring after the first lay. Don't ya think, Zack?" There was a sneer across his tattooed face as he looked up.

Zack bit his tongue. Instead of an equally cruel reply, he murmured, "Knew you could see us."

Rude leaned against a nearby tree, plucking his black, fingerless gloves from his pocket. He said nothing, given that the man never did speak much, just nodded to Elena. _Yeah,_ Zack mused, _that's the girl's name. _

"Well, I'm not _blind_," Reno taunted, "I mean, that fuckin' ugly piece o' junk can't hide in the middle of a forest. It ain't a brilliant plan ta go 'round in somethin' that red. But that doesn't matter, does it? I'm sittin' here and you're over there. You can go on your merry way." He waved his fingers in a mock gesture of farewell. "Buh-bye."

A memory of Reno... this asshole couldn't be him, not when talking to Zack. Though he had always been a bastard, this behavior ranked far above any other moment. Even on top of that pillar with his gun in hand hadn't been so bad. At least Zack had known the only reason he'd acted that way was because he was training. That had been Turk Reno. This, talking of personal issues and laying back, seemed to be a mixture of both the Reno's that he had cared for.

"Good for you. Why are you here?" Zack asked, voice clipped. From the corner of his eye, he saw Cloud somehow managing to grab his own sword, his summon materia shimmering against the cold steel. The others were behind him. He could feel their eyes on his back, looking over each crevice, searching for answers. Zack wanted to turn and reply with a, "None of your damn business," but he couldn't. The response he would get would not be flattering.

"This an' that." Reno held his hand up to calm himself before tossing his pony-tail over his shoulder. "Work. I'm pretty good at it, ain't I?"

A tense silence once again weighed over Zack's head, choking the breath from the ex-SOLDIER. Confused, the raven-haired man pointedly stared at the grave. The green eyes bearing into him were just too deep, too wide and filled with malice. Turk Reno... Real Reno? A Zombie Reno? It was Reno's shell of a human but none of his warmth or caring.

Reno cocked his head to the side and snapped his fingers, pointing at Cloud. "Aw, Chocobo-head, right? Remember me?"

Zack turned to Cloud, whose eyes were blazing blue, mixing with mako green as well. The sight was alarming; Cloud got angry, yes, but this... this was a first.

Cloud spat, "I won't." There was venom in his words.

"Aw, yeah, ya are. Don't give us too much trouble, 'kay? 'S not like we're gunna do anything _too_ terrible, y'know. Gotta do my job, right El? You're a newbie – you get these rules an' shit." Reno went to take a step toward Cloud but Zack intercepted him, fists curled.

The Turk blinked and casually slung his weight to his back foot. Pouting, he crossed his arms. "You're gunna be like tha'? You never were such a hard-ass. On the contrary," he said, turning to Rude with a wink, "you were always a soft-ass. Still like that?"

Someone behind Cloud muttered. Zack couldn't discern the words for the blood pumping through his ears, into his face. How could Reno just talk like that so casually?

"He's here now. We have to get on with the plan," Rude pushed his glassed further up the bridge of his nose.

Red stepped forward, flicking his tail from side to side. "'Plan'? I thought you were going to leave Aeris alone now that Hojo has taken leave... or is there something else going on?" There was confusion and doubt hidden in his ember eye. Zack snapped his eyes back to the trio of Turks. So rigid in their blue suits; it was unnatural.

The flower girl glared at the intruders. "Can't you just leave us be? We're trying to help."

"Aeris, don't worry about them. They're liars, the whole lot of them," Cloud yelled over his shoulder, drawing his katana. "Liars and murderers and rapists," he hissed the last word with enough hatred to make Reno visibly flinch. No one but his own comrades, Cloud and Zack had seen, but the blonde seemed to receive a boost from it. "That's right," he added. "You're cold and capable of manipulating others. But not anymore... You're done, Turk."

Reno's face was a blank slate. Zack could see words tickling for release but they didn't seem to want to come. Cloud stepped forward, pointing his weapon at the spot where Reno's heart beat inside of his chest.

Somewhere in the distance of Zack's mind, the words Cloud said rang like the bells of the church in the slums but they were... off. They weren't clear and pure. Cloud's words weren't right.

Zack tentatively said the blonde's name, reaching out to clasp the his shoulder. Reno twitched again and this time pulled out his EMR. His fingers were spasming. Zack looked away uncomfortably. "Let's leave this alone. I'll deal with it."

When the blonde refused to move, Zack leaned in closer and let his hand gently touch Cloud's, pushing the katana down, making the tip scrape along the ground. "We don't need this right now." His own hand reflexively opened to show that there was no danger.

Still, his guard never strayed from the three Turks. Reno was a sneaky bastard and there was no one more manipulative while in Turk-mode. Reno would always joke while they were laying next to one another, legs entwined like lovers, that one day Reno would be the one to kill him because what better way was there to go? After a few minutes with Reno's lips on his own, Zack had agreed that it would be the best thing.

_We __**were**__ once lovers, _Zack reminded himself, _Is he really planning on killing me now? _

Elena had her hand on the grip of her gun. Rude's fists were readying for an attack. Reno continued to tap his electric mag-rod like it was a drumstick. His sneering face stared back and there was nothing on the Planet that Zack wanted to do more than to make the mask disappear with a solid punch.

Zack shut his eyes. He heard the crack of a twig, the movement of a jacket. Snapping the lids open, he pushed Cloud from the spot where Reno's attack was heading. His skull would have smashed open with the brute force the Turk had used in his swing. Instead, the metal swiped the blonde's shoulder.

The electricity was turned on the lowest setting with a click of a button as Reno pulled the EMR away. A sizzling sound erupted through the air as he once again took aim for Cloud.

"What's wrong? Ain't you gunna fight?" Reno mocked as he dodged Zack's swinging arm. The remaining Turks got into position and began to attack the others but Zack wasn't worried about them. While their hands were stained in blood, neither of them had as much gore as the other Turk. Reno's hands were carnage in themselves. Zack's blood was there. Soon, Cloud's would be too.

Cloud had his weapon drawn but he was doing nothing except glaring and dodging. His eyes were hazy and unfocused but there was mako flooding through them. The glow of the SOLDIERs grew in them, brighter and brighter until Zack had to turn his face away to shield from the sight. Reno seemed to have noticed as well and backed up a few feet, drawing a yellow orb of materia from his soiled jacket.

"Cloud! It's Deathblow...!"

The warning was unnecessary.

The blonde already had a flame rising from his fingertips. The water in the cemetery air seemed to evaporate and the ground's fading blooms burst into flames that licked the headstones. Dying grass charred and turned black yet the fires grew within his hands like a newly blossoming rose, unfolding its petals for the first time. Zack could feel the heat on his skin, in his eyes, could smell the scent of burning flesh but Cloud had yet to throw the flames. The blade in one hand was red hot from the enveloping embers.

Reno said something indistinguishable as he darted forward with a scream of anger. Zack could already see what Cloud was doing; it wasn't...

"_Ahhhh!"_ Reno screamed, dropping his weapon to the floor and grabbing at his shoulder. His knees were wobbling and there was blood on the burned ground, pooling like rainwater would. The flames disappeared with a snap of Cloud's fingers and the katana fell limply from his hands. Zack could see that there was blood across the blonde's face, a splatter of Reno.

The other Turks – neither had so much as a scratch on their body, which was quite different from Reno, whose whimpers made Zack's hands shake – began backing away. They made a pass to grab their comrade.

The redhead was too damn persistent. Glaring, Reno stumbled to his feet, pointing to his weapon. "Get that, Rude," he commanded, pressing the hand that would otherwise hold his EMR to his wound. From the scent of the flesh, Zack guessed the cut was cauterized but it was a deep wound that would take a long time to properly heal. Nerverthless, the second-in-command Turk gritted his teeth and plunged his fingers into the gash in his jacket. A hissing scream poured from his mouth as he dug his nails into the wound, reopening the gash.

"You... little... fuck!" Reno wheezed as he pulled his bloody hand out. He was shaking horribly; shock was setting in. "Think you're smart, eh?" he advanced, stumbled a little bit but managed to keep from falling forward. "You're nuthin', kid. You ain't gunna get me. Get this."

Cloud's mako eyes reminded Zack of a thousand screaming souls. They were eyes that he noticed almost immediately: eyes of a SOLDIER who had fought through bloodshed and tears. It reminded him of the look in some of the older First-Classes, who had been around for the First Wutaian War. Vibrant and deadly, Cloud could have lopped Reno's head straight off his shoulders if Reno had made one too many careless mistakes.

Reno was within arms distance, his eyes bloodshot. There was either a sprinkling of stubble on his chin or he had blood splattered across it. The dusting of blood on his cheeks and nose mixed with his freckles, giving the illusion that there were more now. Zack remembered kissing them in a drunken state of bliss more times than he could count and for a flicker of a second, he wondered where the emotions between them had gone. Green eyes like emeralds but so much harsher than Aeris' stared back at Zack.

A tremor went through the ex-SOLDIER's body. Something in those eyes was begging him, sobbing into his arm.

"Reno?" Zack's fist dropped.

The Turk huffed to cover up his wince at his own name. He hesitantly reached a hand forward, slowly. So much like a lover would...

Before his gore-covered fingers could touch Zack, someone off to the side snarled. Reno dropped his hand and tore his gaze away from Zack's..

"Ask your great company wha' happened here. And tell your ma I said 'heya'." Reno turned on his heel and walked away. A flower pot, the blooms that once were inside now burned, was in the Turk's way. He kicked it, uncaring. There was an audible crunching of glass and Reno reached into his pocket, using his uninjured limb. The tarry smell of cigarettes soon loomed with the burned ground and blood.

Zack thought over Reno's final words to him. Unsure, he averted his gaze to stare at the ground.

_Wait... they knew? And ma – she's alive? _

Though he came to the conclusion quickly, the Turks were hidden within the trees before he could voice any questions. Zack didn't want to give chase however... his ma? She was okay?

"Get back in the car," Zack said as he quickly looked everyone over. The only person who appeared injured was Cloud but on inspection the blood on his cheeks was not his own.

"Why?" Cloud was looking disinterestedly at his sword, which was still impaled in the earth. Something was snaking through the boy's mind – Zack could see it in his eyes – but he did not mention whatever it was.

Aeris leaned forward with the hem of her jacket to wipe the blood away but it only caused the mess to smear. "You're all dirty," she muttered as she licked the tips of her fingers to bring to Cloud's face but the blonde moved around her efforts.

She turned to him then, a smile on her lips. Zack could tell without even looking that it was fake. "We... Zack..."

"Did you know about this?" he asked, choking on his words, "Did you know that... that my home? _My_ family? _My world_? Did you... know this entire time?"

Someone's feet shuffled.

"I... I didn't," Cloud's voice was quiet.

"But the rest of you did," Zack said, bitterness seeping into the words, "You could've told me so that... so that when I got here it wouldn't have been so bad! You all must've known – it's a Shinra reactor and you're Avalanche." Zack's lips felt chapped and his nose was sore even without being hit in the face by Cloud. In fact, it would have felt _better_ if it had been a fist; at least then there wouldn't be the sore, aching pain of his heart and mind as he drowned in this handed-down information.

"We thought it best not to mention it, Zack. We thought maybe you kne–"

"Bullshit, Tif. You know as well as I do that I was in a fucking tube for the past five years. How would I know anything about my home that's on another continent? I wasn't able to get here while traveling back. No time. We needed to get to Midgar pronto. Couldn't you have said something? Anyone?"

Red coughed. "I was locked with Shinra before whatever accident took place here."

Zack wiped his face with his palm. "Fine. Whatever. I need to get into town now so if you'll excuse me," he continued, heading for the van and slamming the door behind him.

* * *

The town reminded Zack of Corel and its broken villagers and sad, dirty faces. The children looked so unhappy and their parents were beaten with distress. Zack was sure that he recognized a few of the wrinkled and scarred faces peering back at him, eyes wide abysses after the destruction of their homes and families. So tired... So different from the carefree smiles and laughter that once radiated from people content with life.

Zack drove so slowly that he could almost see himself running through the streets with his old wooden sword in hand, mako-less blue eyes staring with defiance at the older children who would tease those who were weaker or a small baby monster that got loose in the town.

Things were different. The houses of stone and wood were all gone, replaced with huts. While much better than Corel's, they still felt like a sore opening. The beautiful home where he had been born and grown up sneaking out the window to explore the new reactor or to play in the trees hanging nearby... No doubt it was gone, a distant and painful memory.

But that didn't mean that his parents were no longer alive, that they had died while waiting for their only child to come home.

_Reno said that ma was alive and to tell her hello but why would he know anything about her? How would he know whether she was alive or not, if she was unwell or sad? He isn't her son; I am! What if_, Zack bit down on his lip_, _..._what if he told her about us? What if she knew that I had been with a man? She'd love me all the same but she wanted me to get married. I even sent a letter home telling her I'd be getting married to a beautiful girl with a smile so bright that it lit Midgar up like a flare in the night sky._

_Will she be disappointed knowing her baby blew it? That he was... that I __**am**__ for certain... that I am in love? And there won't be any babies or weddings or growing old, sitting on a porch...? We can't age; we're both stuck in these bodies unless we are killed or do it ourselves. At least, that's how it seems. _

_What am I gonna say to her? After she beats me upside the head for not sending word, what'll she do? She's my ma, too much like me but will she cry? I can already feel her disappointment. _

"If what Reno said is true, my parents are still alive. I can feel it; they're here. It seems like the land is still owned by the same people." Zack stopped himself from saying that many of the homes only held sad-looking women out the front of their huts. "Which means that my house should still be on the same plot of land that it was way back when." The ex-SOLDIER laughed. Words – he liked speaking loudly when the rest of the group was silent. Even with his anger his voice continued to spill from his lips without warning.

"You talk when you're nervous," Cloud said pointedly. Zack looked into his mirror where the blonde was staring. "You do it a lot too. Talking."

Zack huffed exaggeratedly. "We're almost there. If you want to... you can." There was no point in finishing the sentence as his partners knew that he was inviting them in.

Suddenly, he wondered if that was a smart idea. For all he knew, his family didn't even _want _to see him. Their lives were marred by hardship. What if his father had died during the accident?

"What exactly happened here?" Zack asked, not truly wanting a response. A few children darted into the street to collect their ball, which had rolled from their metal-littered front yard. They didn't look anything alike. Perhaps Mrs. Bats had taken in orphans from whoever had passed on after the explosion.

"Let's just go, Zackary," Aeris whispered.

Taking in a deep breath, the raven-haired man wondered whether she was right; maybe they should just go without turning back. Cosmo Canyon was a few hundred miles away and then there was Nibelheim. It loomed in the distance like a ticking time-bomb, ready to explode the moment they walked into town. Zack wasn't telling the truth about that either.

"We're gonna stay here the night. I can find you other places to stay but I'm sure there'll be room at my place. Ma's a gracious lady. She'll wanna feed ya and take care of ya. Don't do anything," Zack lifted his hand to the mirror, staring pointedly at Yuffie, who had the decency to look a little ashamed, "stupid. She's a nice women but I remember a time when she kicked a neighbor out of the house because she tried to grab my ass. True story right there. Don't get frisky with me, got it?"

For the most part, the talking was nothing more than a way of pushing away his fears and doubts. It relieved stress. He could almost feel the knots in his mind coming undone like an unraveling ribbon.

"And Reno?" Tifa questioned. Her snippy attitude was mostly gone and she had tucked her hands into Red's fur, petting him with gentleness. "What does he have to do with any of this?"

"Huh? He's got nothing to do with anything. Let's just leave it at that. He thinks the world of himself and it's best to just pretend like he's a blind, deaf and mute prick." The words came out defensive. Zack grimaced. "Uh. Alrighty then. Looks like everything's okay."

But it wasn't okay. With Reno's big mouth and Zack's idiocy and the past encounters, someone was bound to come up with the right answer. Aeris knew... and Cloud's words had been so set. Did he know as well?

It was so long ago that the phantom touches of lovers was gone. In Midgar, it seemed that Reno had been waiting, waiting to see if Zack would entwine their hands and bodies again.

Zack fixed his mirror.

Slim as chances of that happening had been in the beginning, now the answer was a firm 'no'.

* * *

The trees that were once planted around the house were gone, wildflowers in their stead. The stumps were surrounded by small petals and stems, which effectively hid them from view.

Unless you knew they were once there, of course.

The house was tiny, too. Zack remembered it being so much larger and though he knew it was only a replica, built by his father with the wood from trees on the property, he could almost see himself in front of the house.

No one was on the front step. What if they were out in town or having tea with one of the elders? Would she be there to see her baby boy and his glowing eyes? She wouldn't like them. Ma had always told him that the most beautiful thing about him was his eyes, like soft rain. The tint of mako destroyed that.

"Anyone there?" Barret asked.

Turning off the car and slipping the keys into his pocket, the violet-eyed man leaned back and shut his eyes, allowing the possible scenarios to play out behind his lids. So many possibilities. He felt tense and nervous.

Cloud's knees digging into his back weren't doing anything to help the situation but he didn't want to waste the energy to rebuke him. Pointless and unneeded.

"Let's go find out." His words were no louder than an infant's first breath on the Planet but the entire car seemed to hear.

Mentally bracing himself, Zack stepped out of the car and shut the door, readying his feet for the long and taxing walk forward. Like a funeral march, he solemnly kept the pace of a dead man, eyes not wandering from his bloody boots and the weeds that were covering the pathway. Each one he passed reminded Zack of his mother, who used to stand in the garden out back. She all but lived out there, surrounded by her mints and woods and flowers. The wildflowers and weeds were nothing that ever would have graced the ground in front of the home before he had left.

"You alright, Zackary?" Red asked as his face darted into Zack's sight.

He attempted to smile but all that came was a grimace. "Fine," he uttered, swallowing.

The closer Zack got to the front door the more he wondered. The bad, the good, the ugly and the unremarkable: they all had some part of Zack in their clutches. There was no way he could hold out any longer. He leaned forward and tapped his knuckles against the door, motioning for the others to take a step back.

A woman yelled something from the other side. Zack's nails dug into the palms of his hands, leaving half-moons indented into the skin. Something was jingling, a lock opening. The wooden door opened a few inches and an eye appeared between the cracks.

"Yes?" Her Gongagan accent was heavy and reminded Zack of bedtime stories and lullabies. "How can I help you?"

"Mrs. Fair?" the words felt strange over his tongue, like pickles dipped in chocolate. It just didn't make any sense.

"You're a SOLDIER," she said bluntly, allowing the door to open wider. Zack could feel the eyes on him, everywhere and nowhere. She was staring, just staring, her expression a little confused and startled.

She looked healthy. Sad but healthy. Her hair was prematurely gray in spots, thick and poignant against her otherwise shiny black locks. The crow's feet around her eyes were deep like they had been etched in. The laugh lines around her cheeks stood out prominently too but other than that she was beautiful. She was everything Zack ever wanted to be when he grew up.

Her eyes started filling with tears. Zack had to cough back a wave of emotion. He couldn't cry, not now, not in front of his heart-broken mother, who had probably prayed to every deity ever written of in hopes that he would come back. If anything, he needed to be strong for her.

"Zack? Baby?" she whispered brokenly.

"Yeah, mama. I'm home," Zack felt his eyes prickle with the tell-tale signs of tears.

The door was thrown wide as she pulled Zack down, wrapping her arms around him in the way only a mother could do with her child. She sobbed into his hair, petting it over and over again as she whispered the same words: "He said you'd come back to us, he said it. Promised that he'd find you and bring you back. And he did. And he did."

* * *

Zack sipped at the sweet tea in his icy glass, looking over at the walls where there seemed to be a dozen photographs of him while in SOLDIER. He couldn't remember ever sending them to his parents though. There was a dark space in his mind – he could remember sending letters but no pictures. Most of the ones on the walls showed the same apartment, amateur photographs.

Ma was serving the others with her big smile, eyes lit up. She even pulled down the dog's old bowl and cleaned it for Red to drink from. She placed it on the floor next to Zack's feet. It reminded him of an old, tired dog. But this one spoke and she fawned over him.

After being introduced to everyone (Zack noticed that she paid a little more time greeting Aeris and Cloud) and pouring drinks, Ma took the seat closest to Zack, patting him on the head.

"It's so nice to meet y'all. I've been wondering who my baby's friends are." She reached forward, putting her hand on top of Zack's and smiled again like it had been an eternity since she had done so. "Supper's in the oven and you're welcome to stay for as long as you want. The place ain't as big as it used to be but Zack's room is upstairs and there's the guest room and the living room, which you're free to stay in. And just call me 'Ma', okay? I haven't been called anything else since I was her age!" she pointed her finger to Yuffie, who was squatting on the floor with her cup between her legs.

Zack gave her an appreciative look, "Thanks, Ma."

Ma shook her head and raised her other hand back to her cheeks, patting them dry. "Don't talk like that, baby. It's been so long since I've seen you; I'm not going to waste one second of this time!"

Tifa swallowed some of her tea before asking Zack's mother a question. "How long has it been exactly?"

Zack's hand tensed below Ma's. "Long enough, Miss. Lockhart. Too long for any mama to wait for her baby to come back. But I understand," she whispered and pointed to the wall, "He told me there was a top-secret mission and that it'd take a long time but that when it was done he'd find you. I always liked him; brought me pictures of you two when he'd come by. Your daddy nearly had a heart attack the first time he saw some of them but I think he understands now. It's no big deal. But I wonder," Zack felt his stomach sink, "where is he? He said that when he found you, you weren't gonna be let go for a long time."

The room became tenser than anything Zack could have even imagined.

"He sent you pictures?"

Ma tapped her hand and stood. "No, he'd come by once or twice a year to give them to us. You both looked so happy. I have my favorite right... here!" she reached up into her china cabinet and pulled down a photo, dusting it off with the tips of her light blue apron. "You looked so happy and so did he. Said that you had been away for a couple a days an' had just gotten back from a mission. You're both smiling so wide."

She lifted the picture frame to Zack's line of sight and the man blanched. It was in Reno's apartment, like most of the pictures had been taken, and they were curled up next to one another, half-asleep across the expansion of the couch. Zack's head was in the crook of Reno's arm, smile splayed for the entire world to see. Reno held the camera up at an odd angle but the picture was filled with a vibrancy that seemed to light up the night sky.

"You were so happy, so when Reno would stop by, he'd tell me stories of the things you did. They were always so heartwarming and I knew that if anyone would be able to get you it would be him. We waited for so long – but where is he?"

Someone in the background coughed.

"Ma," Zack revealed, "me an' Reno... he's not with us. He's supposed to..."

"Find us and kill us," Cloud stated, standing up, "He's a dangerous man, Mrs. Fair–"

He was silenced with a hush from Ma. "Reno's not like that," she assured him, leaning forward and patting Cloud's chair for him to sit again. "He wouldn't hurt a fly, that boy. Well, when he's not doing his job. I now what a Turk does and I hate most of them for it but any boy my baby loves can't be bad. He sat in here with me and told me so many things about himself that I just couldn't not care 'bout him. It doesn't matter that you lied to me, sayin' that you found a nice girl. I would have understood – you're a Fair, hunny. Fair men are a little strange when it comes to things like sex."

Zack wanted to lay his head down on the table and let someone run the van over it. Maybe it would have been less embarrassing than the looks he could feel on his skin. "Ma, it wasn't like that," he tried weakly.

"I already told you that me and your daddy talked it over. It ain't a big deal. You can be with whoever you want. Your Ma's a loving person. And when you see him again," Ma winked, "you tell him I miss his company. It's been 'bout three months since I've seen the poor thing. Doesn't eat much but when he's here I make him eat seconds and thirds."

"I'm... I'm sure that he says 'heya'."

Ma smiled. "See?"

* * *

After dinner, Zack's mother sent them all to bed, which was quite an amusing sight considering the height differences and the wagging finger. "You two can go upstairs to Zack's room and you girls can go into the guest room. There are only two beds and since Mister Barret won't be able to get up the stairs one of you can camp out on the other couch. I'd offer my room but my back's been giving me trouble."

Zack climbed up the small staircase that creaked as he ventured up. It was an unfamiliar place but it looked a little like the home he remembered. If he was right, the bedroom he was supposed to be in was to the left. Whichever one looked like a teenager's room would be the right one, he was sure.

"C'mon, Cloud," Zack said as he opened the door, peeking in, "This is it. Just set your stuff down anywhere."

"There's only one bed."

He was right.

"Nothin' new to us, eh?"

Cloud muttered something as Zack flipped the light switch. The town still powered itself with mako, which was shipped in by the Shinra. They didn't pay for it like many other places – the people of Gongaga were just used to show that Shinra was merciful to those below them, an untrue sentiment if there ever was one but the light was still the same.

"Let's get to bed." Zack stripped the pack off of his shoulder and placed the Buster Sword down near the door. Cloud did the same but with it went his dirty shirt and pants and other gear. His legs were a pale, creamy white even with the deep scars. Zack only had a few minutes to look at the boy's back and shoulders before Cloud climbed into bed, turning his face toward the wall.

"You're mad at me or something?" he asked, feeling something inside crunch.

"You could have told me about Reno," he replied carefully, running his fingers over the wall. Zack could see there were patterns to whatever he was drawing. "It isn't like some sin. It could have explained so much that was confusing me. No one likes you less because of who you were with." There was something odd about his words and Zack couldn't help but think that Cloud wasn't telling the truth.

He slid his armor off and sat down on the bed, hearing it creak below him. "You're upset with me, aren't you?"

Cloud's fingers stopped moving as the boy's breathing hitched. "I – I never said that."

"I can see it in your movements. You're a tough cookie to crack," Zack joked, "but I think I've finally got your actions down to an art. You're art, Cloudy-boy."

The blonde turned around, putting his head in his palm. "Did you love him like you loved Aeris?"

Zack reached forward and lightly touched the spikes of blonde between his fingertips. They were so soft, like the feathers of a baby chocobo. Cloud didn't seem to mind his hand and even nudged a little bit into it. "I'm not your pet," he murmured half-heartedly.

"I know but you're adorable when you're like that. Reminds me of a–"

"A baby chocobo?"

The ex-SOLDIER nodded and slid into the bed. Their legs were far enough away from one another that they wouldn't touch but Zack could feel the heat radiating from his body. He shivered; this was getting bad. Already reacting to things that his body shouldn't have – it was so wrong...

...yet if felt so right, so amazing and perfect. There was something wrong with him. He could accept it in his mind but no way could Zack ever say it out loud. Not to Cloud. Innocent and perfect Cloud with his sneers and fists and angry glares.

Reno be damned... Cloud was...

"Zack, you need to turn off the light."

Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Zack slipped out of the blankets. "Whoops. Forgot about them," he said, scratching his head, "I'll just go – yeah."

Cloud snickered when Zack stumbled into a few things as he wandered over to the light switch, turning it down. The light flickered out, leaving the room dark and cold. Cloud's eyes shined from the other side of the room. Zack quickly adjusted his sight perceiving things littering the floor. After a trying moment of shaking Cloud's pants off his foot where they had gotten stuck in the belt-loop, he made it back to the bed. He thumped back down and let out a small, sad sigh.

"Y'know," Cloud said, flopping his head against the pillow, "if you need to cry, I've got a shoulder you can do it on. That wasn't easy – before, with your mom. I... I understand that." A hand descended onto his shoulder.

Zack felt the tears before he even knew that he was allowed to cry. His body rocked back and forth and he felt Cloud's cool breath on his cheek as the blonde wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into an embrace. Zack allowed his head to drop against Cloud's shoulder and felt his tears drip from his face.

Cloud repeated nonsensical words of comfort as he rubbed small circles into the black-haired man's skin. So warm, encasing him with the knowledge that everything would be alright as long as the arms around him didn't fade away. Everything came out; his worry and pain, the panic and longing and the love. There was so much of that it made Zack choke.

"Just breathe," Cloud reminded him and he did.

It would have been a lie to say that what happened next wasn't something Zack had wanted. Cloud's arms were too tight or something and Zack leaned forward and felt his lips cover the other's. They were warm and soft, softer than any woman's lips. Gentler than Reno's harsh, desert lips and this felt so very different from the other times they had connected. This... was this what love tasted like? Warm and innocent with a hint of longing?

If it was, Zack never wanted to kiss another person besides Cloud for the rest of his life.

"I know," Cloud said as they broke apart and Zack saw blue eyes shining in the darkness. Two hands reached forward, the pads of his fingers running over the tear tracks that were slowly fading away. "I know, Zack."

Zack allowed himself to continue to cry and Cloud's arms never left his. He felt safe and loved. It was the first time in so long that Zack wondered whether it was a dream, but Cloud's hands on his cheeks were still so very real, and his lips – there was no way to fake such a gentle and tingling sensation.

And he knew he was drifting into the seas of sleep with Cloud at his side.

* * *

**Well. Yeah. That's right. _It finally happened!!_**

**Please Review!**


	58. Interlude Nine: Ultimate Evil

Author Notes: I'm finally getting back to writing the Interludes for the hundredth chapters—yay! This is Stoic-Genius' one.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Interlude Nine: Ultimate Evil

"Zack, this isn't a good idea," Cloud warned as the raven-haired SOLDIER pulled his arm a little harder, dragging him through the streets of Midgar. His hands were sweaty, Zack noticed as he gripped the trooper's hand a little harder but not hard enough to do anything but lead the boy forward. "They could... Zack, they aren't right in the head."

"But it's amazing the stuff that they can do!"

"They'll try to murder you and possibly do other stuff. You know, _other_ stuff. Dangerous stuff—the kind where you die and I can't bring you back with a phoenix down." Cloud managed to pull himself away, stopping dead in his tracks. "They'll eat me, Zack," the blonde stated seriously, rubbing his hands on his army pants.

There were a few people looking at them now, Zack noticed as he scanned his eyes over the area. A few girls were whispering into one another's ears and giggling. Some had their phones out, fingers pounding away against the buttons. Their tongues lolled out of their mouths' in concentration—they were readying their forces to attack.

"Then let's get you somewhere safe where they won't then, right?"

Zack grabbed Cloud's hand again and continued to run through the open streets of Midgar, a force of evil following after them.

* * *

"Did we lose them?" Cloud panted as he rested his head against the wall.

They had ran for nearly fifteen minutes before resting. Zack was sure that those on his heels were gone, far enough away that he could allow the blonde a moment of rest. "Yeah, kiddo; lost them a few blocks back. If you would just let me carry you there then we'd be able to get there within the next two minutes, easy. I promise you that once you meet them, they'll protect you. It's amazing what they can do. You'll be safe, 'kay?"

"If you just let me stay at Headquarters I wouldn't need their protection."

Zack's eyebrows rose. "Then I'll never get to take you out. Remember; I promised that I'd get you a pizza and that we'd got check out the new horror movie that was coming out, right? But before then, this is something that we have to do. Just to be safe, y'know? Ain't gunna let 'em get you with their long, serrated nails and gnashing teeth, 'kay?"

"You better not. Just one more sec'."

* * *

The area was as dark as it had been the first time Zack stumbled down into its inky clutches, but opposed to the other places of Midgar, Zack knew that they were safe there. In here their word was law.

"Speak," someone said from the darkness. The cloaked figure had a distinctively feminine voice.

Cloud shivered. "We need protection," he muttered under his breath.

Something, a box, was flung into Zack's hands from the darkness. "There is your protection. Be safe, young SOLDIER."

"I didn't ask for condoms." Zack tossed the box back. "Though they are pretty nifty. Where'd you get pink glow-in-the-dark rubbers?"

"We have our sources, young one."

Zack looked to Cloud, whose face was flushed from embarrassment. "Well, er... that's nice. But what we need is a little more solid than that. We've already had several of the other groups following us around, and we just want to go out for a dinner and a movie. Guys night."

Another voice from the darkness giggled and she walked forward, holding out a camera. "Your wish is our command. We will protect you from the other evils of this city... for a price."

* * *

Cloud was still rubbing his hand against his mouth, shooting dirty looks to the older man. "Did'ja have to do that? In front of those monsters, of all people?"

"They're better than the others. And look." Zack turned around, pointing at the empty streets. "Cleanest I've ever seen the city. They can clean house better than any of my other fan clubs. They are legions of devoted cell-phone users with fast typing fingers and good camera phones. I'll have to pay them back a little more later, but that shouldn't be a problem. I can get a friend who might be willing to pay off my debt."

"You're going to make one of your friends do what you did to me?"

Zack petted Cloud's blonde locks. "Don't worry about him. He can handle himself against the yaoi-girls."

"I heard they were all evil."

"Oh, trust me—they are." Zack winked and looked down at his phone, where a picture of himself and Cloud were kissing. He sent it to a specially-labeled file on his phone. "The ultimate evil, really. But they keep the others away. You see, contrary to belief, I'm a pretty damn popular guy. But sometimes I just want to avoid the girls and hang out with me best, best buddy, Cloudy. They like men with other men—I know, a bit strange, but they are able to protect us. As long as they get a payment of semi-sexually explicit material, they will continue to scare away the others."

"But why'd you have to scare them away?"

Zack clunked his tongue. "Did you see any of those blood-thirsty looks from my fan club? They all want me and you're with me, which put your virginity in danger. Learned that from Angeal's old fan club. What they want is what they generally get."

They continued to walk, the Midgar air blessedly cool against their uniforms. Cloud wanted to say something, the SOLDIER could see, but he was hesitating.

"What is it?"

Cloud looked up and scrunched his nose in distaste. "Next time you kiss me I won't hesitate to hurt you, okay? That was a one-time transaction. Never again, alright?"

Letting out a laugh, he slung his arm around Cloud's shoulder. "Trust me, one day you'll want 'em."

"I'm serious!"

"So am I. Anyway, do you want to see how your pictures came out? I can almost hear the monsters whimpering over them."

* * *

**Legions of yaoi fans gathering together to protect Cloud and Zack from fan girl mobbing!**

**Please Review! **


	59. It Didn't Really Work

Author Notes: My god, guys—over seventy-five reviews for the last two chapters? You guys have any idea how much I love you?

**NOTICE: Thanks to unwinding fantasy, as of July 25th, this chapter has been betaed! Shiny and clean! **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Fifty Eight: It Didn't Really Work

In the morning, Zack woke to the sound of Cloud breathing against his ear. This was the way he wanted to wake up. The soft tickle of breath, the heart beating so loudly he could still hear it ringing in his ears and last night... last night he had kissed the blonde and it had felt right. Cloud hadn't even hit him.

_Just breathe. There has to be an explanation to what I did last night. No matter what I'm feeling, _Zack thought, raising his hand to his nose_. Cloud would have hit me. And he didn't. What does that mean? That he in fact liked it and wants me to do it again or was he simply so shocked by it that he didn't have time to move? Maybe he felt bad for me. Now everyone knows about things I was planning on avoiding. That must be it._

"Do you feel bad for me?" Zack whispered, wishing he could lean forward again. What would it look like to anyone who happened to walk in? Some would be insane with anger over it – Tifa, mostly. The others would probably stare with their mouths on the ground or cry a little and shut the door or attempt to join them with elbows swinging and screeching.

"Is that why I feel like this? It can't be."

Zack turned his head away and pulled on the blanket. The warmth spread over him but he still felt cold. Something was missing, something warm and loving, something that was everything and nothing. A kiss from a beloved – _Let's not even begin to think like that. I'm turning into a love-sick sap. That's not me; I'm vibrant and loud and slightly obnoxious, not a love-sick puppy. And my blow jobs do not suck. _

Reno's face came back into his mind and he couldn't block out the sneer or the anger or the repulsion. What was he supposed to feel anymore? From the moment he escaped from the lab down in the Shinra Mansion, his entire life had been to hate everything to do with Shinra. To distrust them, keep them further and further away. With the new President it was easier but if Rufus kept sending Reno after them there would be Holy to pay.

_Reno's just being controlled by the Shinra. It isn't that big of a surprise that they'd have no moral obligation to stop ex-lover from killing ex-lover. They're in it for the money and the power – fuckin' Shinra don't care about feelings and neither does Reno but... why did he visit Ma so many times if he didn't feel anything for me? Shinra orders? Not likely. They would have just told her I was dead if they really wanted to bother. _

Rolling over, away from Cloud's sleeping form, Zack took some steadying breaths and looked toward the door frame. Someone was returning his gaze.

"Hey, baby. I know you're not asleep. You should see those shiners of yours – they're beautiful. I miss the blue though. Reminded me of when you were a baby and would look up into the sky. I couldn't tell which was which."

Zack smiled into his pillow, glad to forget his worries for a moment.

Ma continued, "You know we Gongagan's have a different blue and for your eyes to be that exact same color was absolutely marvelous. The elders kept yellin' 'bout your eyes; only baby to have 'em. Something about curses and voodoo and your damn daddy whose knockin' girls up." She laughed at this. "Come get some tea and then you can get back to bed."

For a moment, Zack hesitated, turning back to Cloud, whose slight snoring had continued through Ma's speech. "I..."

"Don't be silly. He's not gonna get cold while you drink something. I'm sure he's self-sufficient; I'd find it difficult to believe if you said he wasn't. Sweet boy, too. A little strange, but sweet." Ma beckoned him before disappearing from sight.

Zack wobbled out of bed, making sure to push the blankets up to Cloud's cheek, allowing his fingers to trace over the soft flesh before pulling back with a snap.

The stairs creaked loudly and Zack winced at the sound. There was bound to be someone in the party who would be jolted awake thanks to how loud the damn thing was. Ma turned and rolled her eyes, pushing hair from her eyes and making exaggerated tip-toeing movements.

When they got into the kitchen, there was a pot of water already boiling on the stove and Barret was sprawled across one large couch, his weight causing it to sag dangerously. Tifa was on the other. Zack could see the steady rising of her chest... not that he was staring at her chest for any other reason of course. _I've just admitted to myself that I have something goin' on with Cloud. Possibly. _

"You still like the wildflower tea or did the Shinra beat it out with those Minerva-awful Amino-D drinks? They're filled with sugar and nasty chemicals. Aren't good for you though I am pretty sure having your body filled with mako isn't exactly good either." She sighed and patted her hair down.

"'Course I love your wildflower tea," Zack said, amused at her flustered behavior. She had pulled him out of bed for another reason, not just for tea. "C'mon, Ma. Just tell me what's going on in your head."

Ma sighed and grabbed the kettle from the stove as the water continued to bubble. "I just want to know what's going on, that's all. I've been so worried about you and don't think that I couldn't tell that you were hiding something from me earlier. Was it about Reno?"

The teacups were filled and Ma added three spoonfuls of sugar into Zack's and a dash of milk to her own. The bags floated to the top. With the practiced grace that recalled Zack to his childhood days, she quickly removed them and threw them into a nearby trash bag, completing the ritual.

After handing over Zack's cup, she sat down and blew on her own tea, bright eyes looking him over.

Zack took a sip of the sweet concoction and sighed, placing it down on the wooden table. "We haven't been together for a long time, Ma. And they hadn't known. Only Aeris did. She was my girlfriend, the one I wrote you about, said I was going to get married to. I was wrong. She loved me and I loved her – at least, I think that's how it was – but I was with Reno then, too. I'm a bad boyfriend, aren't I?"

Clucking her tongue, she swallowed her tea and sighed. "You've got a big heart, Zackary, but you cheated on the girl? She's upstairs, isn't she? That Aeris, the flower girl?" Ma didn't need an answer. She put the tea down and closed her eyes. "I feel like a fool, showing those pictures around. I didn't know that it was a sore subject. And what about Cloud?"

Zack sucked in a breath between his teeth. "Yeah, 'bout him... I did something kinda dumb earlier. But it wasn't dumb at the same time. It was amazing and all that other mushy crap but it could destroy him. And Tifa, she'd kill me if she knew. And Aeris keeps pushing me away and toward him. Red's doing the same. I just don't _get it_." He didn't realize his voice had risen until Tifa coughed and Barret grunted, kicking the back of the couch.

"Sorry," he said, wincing. There seemed to be no further movement from either of the sleepers and nothing darting from above so the ex-SOLDIER looked back to his mother and shrugged. "I hurt everyone and everything I touch. It'd probably be better if I didn't do anything. Pretend like what happened earlier didn't happen. What do you think?"

Ma stared incredulously at him. Zack looked down into the pool of brown liquid. "I think you're a moron," she said bluntly, taking another sip of her tea, "but tell me something: is it that you're gay? Interested solely in the penis? Or just Reno and Cloud? Because either way I want you to keep yourself safe. Always use condoms. On girl and boy. It would be terrible if your body parts started falling off.

"Ugh, don't worry 'bout that. Family jewels are staying exactly where they are and... I don't think I am. I like girls, too. It's only ever been them. I've never been into guys but they're different. I don't know why."

"Maybe it's fate then? But you've been with Reno, haven't you? I could see it in his eyes. When did you leave him? Dump him? Throw him off to the side?"

"Could you stop saying that? It makes me feel like shit."

"Maybe you should explain it to your old Ma then, hmm? And don't use that filthy word in my house. It's a fuckin' nasty thing to say."

Zack snickered. "Puh-lease, you said worse over my crib when I was just a baby. You always cursed, even though you did try to cut down when I was younger. At least a little."

"Well, who can blame me? You were such a boisterous little kid. Loved you more than anything. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, Ma. I know. I love you, too."

"'Kay, now tell me about what you did. And don't hold back on th e details."

* * *

Zack looked at his mother then back to the car, sighing for a minute before scratching his head. "We gotta get going. If the Shinra know where we are then it's a good time for us to get ambushed. I love you, 'kay? And I'll make sure to call. Tell dad when he gets home that I love him as well." Kissing her cheek, the raven-haired man took a step back, allowing the others to come forward and thank her.

Leaving the others to it, Zack turned and started up the van. He went to the back one final time, making sure everything was in the same position that it had been in a moment before. Everything was, as he had expected, still in the exact same position that it had been two minutes before and two minutes before that.

_Nerves. I don't wanna leave this busted up town, but there's nothing else we can do. We've already imposed enough and it's dangerous to stay any longer, _Zack chewed on the inside of his cheek_, Gotta go to the reactor on the way out. Maybe I can somehow figure out what happened. I want to know. _

"Be safe, 'kay? Don't do anything stupid and don't get yourselves killed! I wanna call every now and then. Cloud, dear, make sure that you hit him if he forgets, okay?"

The others were clambering into the car now. Zack didn't want to look back. She'd be crying, even though she knew he'd come back.

"I promise, Ma! And Cloud hits me enough – brutal little thing. Ow! Shit, Cloudy, that doesn't mean I'm asking for any!" Zack turned to Cloud, who was smiling softly, almost as if he was happy. It had been a long time since one of those looks had passed over the blonde's face.

Happy... Zack liked that look on Cloud. Made everything else disappear, smoothed over any rough patches between them. Smiles tended to do that, Zack shrugged.

"Okay! Buckle up and make sure you don't hit any little kids – buncha brats but none of 'em compare to you. Bye, baby!" Ma's voice failed on the last words.

Zack turned, waving and smiling. "He hits me lots; don't worry about me forgetting. Love you!"

Zack waved his hand one final time before hitting his foot on the acceleration pedal when what he really wanted to do was slam on the brakes, tell Sephiroth to fuck himself (the man seemed to have enough ego that he was sure it was totally possible) and bring everyone back to the Gold Saucer. Or something. Something that would make everyone happy and carefree, something that would get rid of their worries.

The journey out of town was a little louder than it had been on the way in but there still seemed to be something lurking over them, some undeniable promise of misfortune to come. That feeling liked to follow them. Things passed Zack's eyes and while he internally wept for them, the little children, the scared men, the broken women, he knew there wasn't anything he could do. Not right now, not with him being in the middle of a soon-to-be war zone.

With a jerk, Zack slammed his foot on the brakes in front of the exit to town, turning to Barret, who seemed weary. "Okay, I'd like to know everything about this town. I didn't push it yesterday because I had more important things to worry about. Now, will you please answer me? I know you know something. All of you."

"Spiky, it ain't like we wanted ta keep it from ya, it's just how it happened. I ain't sorry though."

"Barret, take that back!" Aeris said softly. Zack could see her tiny mouth quivering. "It would be like us keeping the destruction of your hometown from you. What gives us the right to keep it from him? Because you want to keep Avalanche looking like a golden statue?"

Tifa gave Aeris a hard stare, making her look devastated for a moment. She softened her gaze before saying, "You don't understand Avalanche. You saw what the Shinra have done to us all: destroyed Crondrel, Corel and Nibelheim, tortured you, Zack and Cloud for years. They are murderers. The people who were in Avalanche before us did what they thought was best. That meant destroying reactors."

Realization dawned on the ex-SOLDIER. He felt his body twist and curl with rage. "You... you recruited me into the group responsible for razing my home to the ground and you didn't think of once mentioning it in passing!"

"You told me it was nothing I needed to worry about!" Aeris climbed into the front seat with Cloud and Yuffie. "That's it. Barret, go sit back there with Tifa. I'm punishing you," she told Zack, her eyes blazing green. He would have managed a smile but the circumstances inhibited him from mustering one.

"Wai', I don't get it. We didn't bomb the reactor. I wasn't even there when it happened; was still in Corel. We got blamed for doin' it but we sure as hell didn't. We were peaceful, me an' the townsfolk. Ain't no more but we were. That's why they destroyed us, 'cuz that reactor wen' 'boom' and lot o' people died..." He turned a fiery gaze on Tifa, "They killed a lot o' people in Corel after that. Don't see him apologizin' for his Shinra goin' an' killin' my wife and baby and Marlene's mama and siblin's!"

Yuffie gave a triumphant smirk, "He wouldn't have to, you stupid loser! Think about it: he was all locked in a tank during that time, right, Zacky?"

Zack nodded dully.

"Hah, knew it." She stuck out her tongue at Barret, who was climbing from the front seat. "Can I sit up there with him, huh? Huh? Huhhuhuhuhuhuh?"

Zack looked at the empty spot and then to a decidely pale-looking Cloud, who was already unbuckling his seatbelt. "I'm coming, I'm coming. Maybe it'll help."

"Dude, so not fair! I've got worse sickness than him," Yuffie complained. Aeris patted her on the shoulder soothingly, her eyes still narrowed at Barret. Zack knew her anger would fade, that she tended to occasionally feed off the emotions of the Planet and the people who inhabited the Planet but right then it was a useful tool for getting the man to shut up.

Cloud slipped out of the car and slammed the door shut when Yuffie sidled over. Aeris shifted to the middle so Barret could pull the seat up and get into the back where it was obvious that he was quite uncomfortable.

"Cait's asleep but it may be best if Red comes up here. There's room for him. I don't think he slept that great last night," Aeris said**.** Some of her anger was already wearing off as Aeris pat the seat. Red sighed and looked out of his golden eye for a moment before climbing over, Aeris unfolding the chair for him.

"Thank you," he whispered. Zack noticed as he pushed the mirror around a little more, catching Tifa's distraught face for a moment before bringing it up past her head, that Red wasn't sounding too well.

"You under the weather, Red?" Zack asked with little emotion, only allowing a bit of worry to work its way in, "Your tail isn't glowing as brightly as usual."

Red said nothing. Instead he buried his head into his paws. Aeris continued to pet him yet he seemed immune to all questions.

"Wait," Cloud said as he got into the van, "we're getting close to your town, right? Cosmo Canyon."

Red continued to be silent but his body betrayed him by tensing.

"It's not destroyed," Zack quietly murmured, "We came that way to get away from Shinra. I never got to stop in Gongaga but I did stop there. It's beautiful, really. You're lucky to call that place home."

They said nothing else. Zack let the car drive onwards to the wreckage of the Gongagan Mako Reactor.

* * *

Zack twirled the ball of materia in his hand for a moment before tossing it to Tifa. "I don't want to use it because they tend to bond with the person who first uses them. Since you've given the last one to Tifa, maybe Red or Cait can have it?"

"What about Barret? He doesn't have one and neither do you, for that matter. Cloud, Aeris, Yuffie and Tifa do but no one else," that was Red, who seemed to be doing better now they were out of Gongaga and heading toward Cosmo Canyon.

"I don't use that shi'," Barret yelled from the back.

Zack turned to see Tifa touching the crimson materia, her eyes closed. "It's lighting elemental. I can feel it in my fingers. Its name is Ramuh."

Aeris nodded and Zack passed the the last ball over his head. "Attach this one to Red's headdress. If that's okay with him, of course. I think it'll suit him."

She accepted the gift and cradled it in her palm as she pushed a few feathers out of the way. She gently glided it to Red's nose, allowing him to smell it before pushing it into the headdress' slot.

"What is it?"

"Titan, the king of the earth."

Zack whistled. "Wow, there are a lot of kings and queens in summons. I dealt with a few while in Shinra but they're normally just copies of the original materia. Not the real stuff. It seems like we're finding royalty everywhere. Who'd you steal yours from, Yuf?"

"No one," she said sullenly, "It's in the family. I'm a queen ninja, y'know. I could kick your butt and you wouldn't even see it. I'm princess and royalty and all that hoo-ha crapola. And that's a nasty pot-hole you're about to drive into. Wha? Wait... _pot hole!_"

There was barely enough time for Zack to avoid it but somehow he managed. The wheel had to have been close, he thought as he swerved the car to the left, causing everyone to jerk to the side. There was screaming and screeching and loud yells of, "You fuckin' dumb ass!" but Zack allowed his senses to take over for the briefest of seconds, reacting with unnatural speed and agility.

The moment they managed to pull the car over, Zack laid his head against the steering wheel.

"Your eyes, Zack," Cloud said, putting his arm on his shoulder. Zack rubbed at his eyes through the holes in the steering wheel. "They turned green."

"Happens sometimes. Yours have done it, too. I've seen it a thousand times."

"Really, Zack?" Tifa interrupted from the back. "I've never seen them change. Maybe you're just seeing things? His eyes have always been blue."

Zack lifted his hand from his eyes and swatted Cloud's hand away. "'M fine, Cloudy. Just gave me a sudden vertigo. Couldn't someone see it? It took up like half of the road. How'd any of you miss it?"

"Because we ain't the ones who gotta be lookin' at it."

"He's right, sir. I was sleeping on Miss Tifa's head and the others were talking rather loudly," Cait Sith chimed in, "so you should have been taking special care to watch out for it."

"But you gave me three feet, Yuffie. You go sixty miles per hour up this canyon side and see how fast three feet go by. Or," he smirked, "you could just stick your head out the window and look at the cactus at the bottom of that pit."

Cloud rounded, smacking Zack lightly on the arm. It was strange, Zack thought as he looked to the blonde, who continued to smile in that weird way that made little sense to him. Hitting and no pain? Almost jokingly? And this had to be the sixth time just in the past hour!

"You sick, Chocobo-head? No 'oomph' in your punches."

The blonde rolled his eyes. "I'm not sick; you're just a moron. And your Ma told me that I could hit you whenever I want to." The broad smile continued to grow. "It's actually nice knowing that your mother doesn't mind the constant abuse I put you under."

"Don't think I won't call her and tell her you're picking on her favorite little boy."

"Duh," Yuffie butted in, "you're her only kid. She's got no choice but to adore you. Until you make pretty babies with me, of course. I was thinking that while you might not be banging me for obvious reasons, I wanna have your spermies. Can I?"

"Thank Holy I wasn't driving when you said that." Zack turned back around, suddenly uncomfortable at being pinned down by the seatbelt. "No spermies, no eggies and I _am not_ allowing you to take one of my testies. Nothing with an 'ies'. They're dangerous. Now, why don't you go eat your candies?" Zack stuck his tongue out as a few of the people in the car snickered.

Red sneezed. "I think it would be best to keep the sugar out of the air. There is a terrible scent as it is back here and we are getting close to town. I am sure my people will give you a nice meal for returning me. Then you will be off and I..."

Zack felt his gaze drop, holding the deep look that Red was giving him. "You'll be leaving us soon, Red." It wasn't a question.

"My people think I am dead. They must fear for their lives. I am the last protector of this canyon, the last son of the Gi and humans. My race will end with me and I must spend my last days watching over it. Though Sephiroth is an enemy and Shinra is the ultimate of evils, there is no way I will be able to once again leave my home in search of another meaning.

"My capture marked a new time on this Planet. I can hear her screaming and there are only three who can stop her." Red snapped his muzzle down, "I have said too much, I believe and the sun is beginning to set. We have five hours before dark and Cosmo Canyon can only take in so many people for the day. The inn fills up quickly."

Zack nodded half-heartedly, feeling the mako drain from his eyes. He was sure that they were no longer the vivid green they had been but back to their violet hue. "Okay, let's get this over with. I don't wanna do this, y'know. You're part of this wacky-ass familyHe felt the urge to tell the red-furred beast that they wanted him, needed him. There was no human in the group that could fill up Red's vast knowledge and what was that he had said earlier about the Planet? Only Aeris and Red could possibly understand.

"I will, of course, wish you the best of luck but at this moment a parting is not necessary. We still have two miles and a night to say our goodbyes."

"Yeah. Let's get out of here. I think I saw a pack of Desert Sahagins a little before the pothole. They have those long arrows." Aeris tapped her fingers against Zack's chair, the other hand resting on Red as if with each stroke of his soft fur, she was begging him to stay. Red and Aeris had always been on the same page while the others, Zack included, were still at the beginning.

The car jerked back to life. They only got about sixteen feet forward before the car lurched to a halt.

Zack grunted. "Huh. Strange."

"Please don't let it die, please don't let it die."

"Miss, I don't think the car is dead," Cait said as he jumped from Tifa's arms to Yuffie's head. Zack spared a laugh before clicking the car back to life.

"False start, I guess." He pushed on the acceleration and the car lurched forward again. For a second, he thought it would break down but luckily it continued on. "See, I'm a great driver. Just a little dust in the engine or something. Can't blame it. There's been a lot of sand and dust and water in this thing. Plus, it was running on a different engine – shit!"

The car let out a loud squeal as something inside exploded. The entire vehicle shook for a second before falling back to the ground.

"What did you do to it?" Yuffie yelled, her face looking a bit green.

"Fucking Shinra can't even make a damned car right. Best ta get movin' ta town. Lucky we're only a mile or so 'way."

Red cut Barret off. "There is bound to be someone who can fix this vehicle. Cosmo Canyon is filled with some of the smartest people who hide from Shinra's thumb. I am sure there is a mechanic within the Canyon's walls. If not, my grandfather has always been good with technology and machines."

Red's grandfather... Zack thought about the man, Bugenhagen. Shinra employee for most of his life until forty years or so before when he suddenly left the company. Many were displeased to see him leave; even with age creeping up on him, it had been more than likely that he would become the Head of the Scientific Research Department. Instead, he had left and instead a man named Gast Faremis had taken control of the program. Later, Hollander and then he'd been succeeded by none other than Hojo. The prick.

_Red speaks highly of his grandfather and he was around before the beginning of the development of Neo-humans and demi-gods and the insane experiments that robbed good men of their sanity. At least I know he won't toss Cloud and I into a tank of mako and leave us there for years. _

"Well, I guess we're going to be staying in Cosmo Canyon for a little longer... because I think I just tore up the engine," Zack smiled pathetically.

He received several grumbles in response.

"Hey, at least I try."

* * *

**Not as long as the chapters have been, but I just couldn't do another seven thousand word chapter for this one. **

**Please Review!**


	60. The Crying

NOTICE: As of, this chapter has been betaed by unwinding fantasy. Love her!

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

Chapter Fifty Nine: The Crying

"At least we weren't too far away. We were planning on staying for a while anyway, right? Don't look at me like that," said Zack. "I didn't mean to do it. I forgot to switch the engine and busted one of the belts. It could happen to anyone!"

Red scratched his paws against the stairs, his face much brighter than it had ever been. There was a glimmer there, shining like the sun or his tail, which had seemed to have flickered out long ago. Zack understood the feeling; Red was home He would stay and guard his home, and Zack could not blame him. His intentions were clear from the beginning.

"There are so many of these things! Why couldn't they put a ramp or something? That would a been better than flippin' stairs!" Yuffie yelled as she banged her shoe against the sun-stained clay ground. One of the points on her shuriken attached to her back was being used by Cait, who was clinging on for dear life, his legs narrowly missing the bag below. Mog trailed after them with no real direction; Cloud had caught the stuffed animal by the wings once or twice when it would nearly tumble off the edge.

"A ramp wouldn't be any easier to climb, Yuffie," Aeris answered. Zack could see that her feet were still giving her a little bit of trouble from the wince she would let out every few steps. While she was a slum-girl and knew how to walk long distances for extended periods of time, but the rubber was peeling froom the bottom of her boot. Nothing could be done about it until they got into town.

Barret held most of the bags that no one else had room for. Zack sourly pulled on his own extra baggage. It was Aeris' stuff. She had been a little hesitant about letting him carry a little more of the weight because it was obvious she was in pain, but he had been insistent. Barret was roped into carrying the tents.

"Don't see how we get this shi' in the car."

"Quit whining, Barret," Yuffie retorted as she turned around, walking up the stairs backwards. "I _need_ my crap. And you got the muscles to do it. One little bag isn't too much, right? Right? What does it weigh? Like half an ounce with those big ol' grody musc—"

Cloud interrupted. "You're going to fall."

The girls snorted and raised her leg to the next step. "No I'm not, Chocobo-boy. I'm a ninja—ninja's don't fall."

"You've fallen plenty of times," Tifa pointed out and Zack could see that the woman was tired, more tired than he has seen her in a long time. Her eyes were gaunt and her lips were chapped and rigid. She actually looked rather sick. "And that's not really the ninja way, right?" Tifa smiled, but her eyes did not hold the happiness.

Zack sent Tifa a look and shook his head. He was sure she understood, because she slowed her walking. "I've got to tie my shoe," she said, lamely. Zack didn't point out that Tifa's boots had zippers, rather than laces. "Come help me hold my stuff, Zack. No, go ahead. Make sure she doesn't trip, Cloud?"

Cloud had turned around, but instead of answering he continued on, grabbing Yuffie as she flailed as they reached the top of the stairs.

"What is it?" Tifa sighed and put her hands on her hips. Zack looked at her. He was right; there was something wrong. Her skin, while once white from the slums, had tanned over the time of their trip, but it was looking a little off-color. Under her deep wine-brown eyes there was the tell-tale sign of sleep deprivation. "Here, hold this." Tifa pushed one of her bags into Zack's hand and leaned down. Her hair hid her face.

"Uh." Now that she was there, Zack didn't know what he was supposed to say. _'You know when you told me to not fall in love with Cloud? Yeah, well, I did.'_ just didn't sound right. It was too boastful, rubbing salt into the wounds. "You looked sick. Are you okay?"

Tifa sighed and pushed a few strands of hair from her eyes. "I'm..." she looked up. "Why didn't you say anything about you dating that Turk, Reno?"

"I didn't know that my sex life was of any importance to the mission we're on?" Zack gave a cheesy smile in hopes to derail the woman from any further prying. When she sent him a look, the fleeting happiness he presented fled as well. "Look." Zack kicked up a little dirt in the opposite direction. "What is upsetting you—really? I mean, sure, big shocker about Reno, but that can't be it."

"Why can't it be?"

"Because life isn't that simple," Zack sighed and handed the woman back her bag once she straightened up. "It isn't like that with you. So, what's up?"

The woman sighed and grabbed the bag. "Don't concern yourself with it. You have enough things to worry about. Now excuse me," Tifa said, her arms heavy. Zack wanted to help, but when he reached forward to snatch the pack from her shoulders Tifa took a few hurried steps forward, effectively ignoring him.

"Tifa," Zack pleaded until she turned around, "just tell me this has nothing to do with Cloud." Zack internally winced as Tifa's eyes narrowed and her breathing became off.

"It isn't anything, Zack. I'm just... a little... never mind." Throwing her bag further onto her arm, Tifa hoisted herself up and continued to climb the stairs. Cloud and Red, who were at the top, were looking down, their mouths barely moving. While Zack wanted to know what they were saying to one another, but he resisted.

He stuck his nose into too many people's lives.

* * *

"Nanaki? Who's that?" Cloud asked as Zack trampled up the stairs. Zack perked his ears up; who was it? "Red?"

Red nodded his head sagely as the native man leaned down. "Yes, I am Nanaki. I am the protector of these people, but have been away for far too long." The beast's tongue lolled out of his mouth as the guard scratched behind his ears.

"That's adorable!" Aeris whispered happily, clapping her hands together. Yuffie, who was next to her, stuck her tongue out in jest.

Red pointedly ignored the party as most of them snickered, pulling himself away from the man's hands. "How has everything been, here? It has been so very long since I... How is grandfather? The people? Has there been any problems with the other tribes or _them_?" Red's deep voice got caught and he pulled further back. "Has there been an attack?"

The man laughed and leaned up, putting his back against the welcome sign. "Everything has been fine—the Cosmo Candle has not so much as flickered since the day that you left; your grandfather is old, but perfectly healthy and the people continue to live. There have been few deaths, old age, mostly, but many new births. This worried the elders for a short time until they realized that so many people had recently been killed in Midgar. The fluctuation of the people is still even."

"And _them_?"

"They are gone, young Nanaki. The living do not fear the dead. We learn from their mistakes and continue to flourish as a people. Now, I am sure Bugenhagen will be delighted to see you..." before the man could finish Red took off towards a large set of stairs chiseled into the rock, heading for what Zack could now see was the Observatory.

"He left us!" Barret said, his shock setting in.

"Then I suggest you follow me," Red yelled from his place on the stairs. "Let them in—they have traveled with me and protected the Planet. If there is no room in the inn I will gladly allow them in grandpa's house!" With that he continued to jump up the stairs until he was merely a speck of red against the rock.

The man at the front stepped aside and spread his arms wide. "Welcome to Cosmo Canyon, where the Planet is one with us all."

_Wow, that line's cheesy, _Zack thought as he shook his head and grabbed the man's hand, shaking it once. "Nice ta meet you, too!"

Aeris laughed and did the same thing, while the others were still standing stock-still. "Well, aren't you going to say 'hello'?" Aeris asked.

Yuffie cackled something to Cloud, who rolled his eyes. "If I had let you fallen you would probably be hurt. Quit complaining. I saved you; a thank you would have been better than a harping lunatic."

"You're a big, mean jerk-face! How could you do that! My body's a damn temple, a _temple_! And you go 'round squeezing whatever you like! Zack," Yuffie squealed and turned to him, her bottom lip jutted out, "push Cloud down the stairs."

Zack scratched his head. "What'd he do to deserve that, kid?"

"He grabbed my arm, pulled me down a couple of stairs. And then he copped a feel! Copped a feel on me—he may look all innocent with those big bug-eyes of his, but he's not!"

Incredulously, Zack looked from Yuffie to Cloud, who was tapping his foot on the ground. "Did you really cop a feel on her?" he smiled as he said it.

"Hardly," Cloud answered. "She was falling. I grabbed her arm so that she wouldn't fall backwards and pulled her to safety—"

"Into his chest!"

"Shut up, Yuffie, I'm trying to talk." The girl stuck her tongue out and Cloud continued, "I pulled her to safety and noticed that Cait was clinging to the back of her pack and he was falling. So, I grabbed his claw."

"Which, while he had a _hand_ on my_butt_, retracted and scratched me! He caused me bodily ha—_ummmph_!" Yuffie fell backwards and into the greeter. "_Ahhh_! He's doing it, too! Dirty, dirty old man!"

"I'm twenty-four!" the man yelled as he wobbled to free himself from the girl's wailing arms.

Zack sent Cloud a look and a shrug. "Guess we should help?"

"Yeah, Zack. You can handle her."

"I wouldn't want you 'grabbing' any more asses, right?" Zack smiled easily and Cloud kicked up a little more dirt.

Tifa was still looking at him though, and for a second Zack felt guilt. She was so sad. So, so sad.

* * *

Zack traded a look with Cloud as he stood next to the weapons shop, pulling his Buster Sword from his back. "Do I trust you?" Zack said as he looked the man at the counter over. He was lean and well-defined—a fighter with clear rank. The weapons on display all seemed to be made well enough, but was he willing to put his baby in another man's hand?

"Just give him the weapon, Zack. It isn't like he's going to be doing anything but professionally shining it," Cloud answered as he laid his own blade on the counter.

"What do you plan on doing with your own weapon? Seraphina, right?" Zack looked over his sword before caressing the hilt. "And I swear if you hurt this weapon I'll be very displeased. Okay? And trust me—SOLDIERs who are displeased are not nice."

The man behind the counter took the Buster with delicateness only an expert could have. While quite peeved by Zack's words, he just nodded his head, obviously used to such actions. "Just a cleaning and a sharpening, then?"

"Yep," Zack said as he worried his thumb between his teeth. "Just be gentle, okay? Angeal'd come back from the grave if anything ever happened to that sword. I'd kill myself before that'd happen."

Cloud's eyes clouded. "You'd die for a sword?"

Removing the thumb from his mouth, Zack looked side to side. "No," he answered. "I'd die for you, though."

The blonde smiled, tapping his fingers against the wood. "Well, I'd do the same for you." Cloud turned to the man and changed topics. "I want to trade this weapon in; it's been giving me trouble as of late."

The man blanched as he put his hands against the steel of the weapon, Zack noticing a thin line of blood in a straight line down the center of his palm. "It seems to still be sharp. Deadly sharp. But, if you really want to trade her in, then I will give you a price worthy of her."

Cloud nodded. "How much?"

"Well, considering her shape and weight, not to mention her raw power, you can choose anything I've got."

Zack spun around on his heel and looked at Cloud. He leaned forward to Cloud's ear. "I didn't pay the man in the slums more than four hundred gil, Cloudy. And these swords are customs, they aren't cheap."

Cloud's eyes narrowed significantly. "Will it pay for his sharpening, too?"

"I don't see why not. Now, come to the back," the man said as he pushed up a small part of the counter, which became a walkway. "We have all of the weapons here, there will be something to catch your eye." He lifted the Seraphina onto a rack, the blade shimmering against the black, soft material of its prison.

"You sure you want to say goodbye to your weapon, Cloudy?" Zack asked as he followed Cloud to the back room, where at least a hundred weapons glittered in the dim glow of fire-light.

Cloud nodded in response and trained his eyes across the weapons. "Yes, I'm sure," he said, distracted. "I'm sure."

The shop-owner left the Buster Sword on his work table, potions and glittering bottles caressing the sides. "You're still using the natural waxes and potions to create barriers?"

Barrier were simple things—most SOLDIERs knew how to make one with the simple supplies. Caking mud, water, leaves and using a potion for mortar, it was easy to protect your weapon from basic rust and knicks. At least for a little while. The mako-infused ones lasted much longer, but tended to make the weapons' brittle.

"They are the best forms. I wouldn't doubt the work of a native of Cosmo Canyon—our blades and arrows don't rust, even dug into the side of the canyon."

Zack held up his hands and retreated a few steps back, making sure to look at whatever Cloud was staring at. Thin swords, thick swords, short swords and long swords—they all were so different but for Cloud, they must have been all the same. None, not even a beautiful Claymore or a fearsome Broadsword drew him. Cloud would occasionally lean forward to run his finger over the hilt or the blade, but he would then snap his fingers away.

The PHS rang loudly, snapping Zack from his thoughts. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled the phone out, sending a sheepish look to the worker and Cloud. "Yeah?"

"Zack, it is Red. I would like you to gather up the others and come up to the Observatory as soon as possible. The inn has sent word that there is a few rooms there, but my grandpa wants you to see something that he believes would interest you. And I have spoken to a repair man for the van."

"Yeah, I spoke to him, too. Said he could fix anything. A busted belt was nothing compared to what he's done before, according to him. Said something about once helping a guy make his blue box run. Gotta wonder how a blue fuckin' box could even have a motor, but the guy got a little creepy and I decided to come up to the shop. Cloud's trying to find a new sword."

"That is fine. But please come before the sun sets." Red ended the conversation and the phone filled with static. Zack sighed, clicked the phone closed, and shoved it back into is pocket.

"What was that?"

"Eh, Red wants us to get up to the Observatory in a little while. Didn't say why, but I don't think that's important. He wants us there and we go. Just not until you pick out a—" Zack looked up at Cloud as he patted his pocket one last time. A smile broke out across his face. "Well, look who found a new sword. You're getting drool everywhere, Cloud. Funny, but it's getting on the floor."

The blade was exquisite; Zack thought that it was only just under the Buster Sword, in fact. The hilt was a dark steel, light midnight, while the blade was light and bright. It seemed to almost gleam. While it was three times thicker and wider than the Seraphina had been, it fit snugly in Cloud's hand. It was almost like the blade was made for his hands and his alone. The bottom, Zack noticed, was a little strange, as it flared open and then closed to a dangerously pointed tip.

"You sure you can handle that, Cloud? It looks a little big, considering the weapons you've been using. Maybe one that is a little smaller? Or that you can kill me with?" Zack asked as Cloud took a few small, experimental swings.

"Don't be silly, it's not too big."

"What about the killing me part?"

Cloud looked over from the weapon to Zack. He was grinning like nothing could or would ever go wrong. "Can I answer you with a 'maybe'?" he smiled. "I want this one, okay? It's a beautiful weapon."

"Funny that it would be someone like you," the man said. "Take it and get out, _young one_."

Cloud's smiled disappeared. "_Young one_?"

"Yes. The Elders aren't going to be pleased to know you're here—I think you should leave." The man backed up, his hands reaching for the wall.

Cloud was taking steps back, his blue eyes... no, green eyes... wait—green eyes? "What do you mean?" Cloud grabbed his skull, the sword slipping from his hands and clanging against the ground.

"Cloud?" Zack frantically grabbed Cloud's arm, yanking down.

"I should have known it was you," the man babbled, "there was something about you. Something not normal. They said you'd be dead—cold and dead."

"Shut up," Cloud snarled as Zack finally pulled his arms down. He tried lunging forward. "You're out of your damn mind. Don't call me that—don't call me anything!" Cloud's pupils were dilated, pinpricks in the middle of green marbles. He was feral, snarling and shaking, clawing at Zack's arms holding him back.

Zack pushed Cloud backward, away from the man, sending him crashing into the wall. The color in his eyes flashed blue before turning back to acid green.

"Chill the fuck out!" Zack yelled, looking at the weapon's dealer all but cowering in the corner. "What are you going on about?"

"Get your things, leave Cosmo Canyon," he said, regaining composure, "this isn't your place."

* * *

Bugenhagen was an interesting man. He was old and his face seemed to be carved out of wood, the knowledge and passion of science deep in his bones, in his very skin. He had a pair of dark-tinted glasses on his nose and old clothes, which were well-worn and still smelled of soap, soil and oil. Such an odd smell; technology and nature, mixed together perfectly.

Zack liked the man's spunk and personality. It reminded him of a grandfather who enjoyed to drink from the bottle and play with the engine of an old truck. He was obviously an elder of Cosmo from the way he looked at things—everything was new and beautiful, even the most ugly of monsters. Bugenhagen liked to collect data from the surrounding area and, according to him, liked to travel around the Planet when he could in search of new information and new species.

"I have seen many things you would not understand, Mister Fair. This Planet has things, organisms and species which could not exist if not for the gentle touch of a caring hand." Bugenhagen touched the wilted petals of the flower on the table, his old hands working their wonder. "You see, with a hand, one is able to transfer some of their very own energy into another being. Enough to help heal the Planet. At least for a moment. Ho ho hoo!"

"Grandpa, let him rest."

"Oh, still acting like a young boy, Nanaki. You know, he is still just a pup according to the his species life span. He is still roughly fifteen or sixteen."

Cloud, who was the only person besides Zack who were there then, scratched one of his spikes. "You're still a kid, Red? I thought you were much older. It's how you speak. You're the same age as Yuffie and myself... well, not exactly. I'm twenty-one..." Cloud sighed and leaned forward on his elbows.

"I'm forty-eight, grandpa. And you're embarrassing me," Red whispered the last few words.

Zack coughed and Red's tail swatted out. "Sorry, I didn't mean to," he snickered and coughed.

"You'd deserve it. Teasing Red—Nanaki. What should I call you, Red or Nanaki?" the blonde questioned.

"I don't particularly care.

"The sun is coming down. I think that it would be about time that you show them your machine, grandpa. The others should be here soon and if you don't mind a stuffed cat climbing on, they could see the machine in two trips. If you're willing to explain it twice, of course. You need to rest sometimes. I can handle things."

Bugenhagen dropped his head."Ho Ho Hoooo. No Nanaki. You can't stand on your own yet. To do that now would destroy you in the long run. Looking up too much makes you lose perspective. When it's time for this planet to die, you'll understand that you know absolutely nothing."

"What do you mean that the Planet will die? How can you say that with such certainty? Maybe its just sick and needs to be fixed. It needs to be healed. I have a friend who's... special. I'm sure she could try to help the planet." Zack looked toward the observatory. "Studying can only do so much."

"I am not an Ancient or Cetra. But the Planet screams and speaks to her and yes, it is dying, and if you listen you can hear her screaming. The natives of Cosmo Canyon call it the final cry. They say it could possibly be reversed, but... I think the Planet is too far gone for any of us to be of help. So now we must wait."

"Wait until the Planet is dead, you mean. And then what? Is there nothing that we can do?" Zack felt ill. The Planet was dying... so all life was going to die and wither?

"You should come into the machine, so grandpa can show you the right way. A demonstration always helps people see things. I've seen it so many times I have it memorized. Each star's name, each comet's size; there is so much outside of this soil and these people. My mother taught me that, first..." Red stopped for a moment, before he continued, his mouth a slave to his emotion. "She is dead now—died to protect this canyon and her people. While my father, the cowardly man and threw her to the side and ran. It wouldn't surprise me if he was a traitor to our people and fled to the Gi. I hope they killed him, because that's how cowards die." Red's voice was quivering with emotion; it was the first time Zack had ever heard him talk in such a way.

_He's just a kid._

"I think that I'd like to see this machine. And look who is at the door—Aeris! Hey let's go and get it started. We only need three, right? And you've got that ball thing to sit on, right? Wait," Zack questioned, "what exactly is that thing? Mechanical object or mako-infused substances? Is it even solid?" Zack stood and reached forward to touch them ball hovering next to Bugenhagen's head. He pulled his fingers back before they brushed against the sphere. "Uh, can I touch it, maybe?"

"Ho ho hoo, go ahead and touch it. I think that you'll know what it is when you do. Give it a good poke." Bugenhagen smiled and waved his hand in hello to Aeris.

"It's like you're giving him a cookie." Cloud clamped his hands under his chin, smiling. "He really likes to play with things. It's his vice. Hair, my hair, his hair, your hair, if you had any; bottle caps; wrappers; the hilt of his Buster Sword; zippers. You let him play with things and he goes wild, like a little..." Cloud stood up, rigid. "Is there a restroom here? I think I may be a little sick."

"Oh, I saw it on my way in," Aeris said at last. "Come on, Cloud. I want to clean my hands, anyway." She lifted her weapon and looked questioningly at Bugenhagen. "Can I leave this here?" The elderly man nodded and smiled.

"Of course, Aeris Gainsborough." The woman set the staff against the closet door without hearing the last words from his mouth. "Or is it Faremis?"

Zack turned to the man. "I remember that name – Doctor Gast Faremis. He worked with Hojo. Worked under you, if I'm right. You worked with Hojo and never thought that his work was breaking any rules? Maybe even against humanity? If someone got rid of him while he was still underneath your position a lot of bad stuff may not have happened." Zack knew his anger was not unfounded, because the older man had the decency to look vaguely ashamed.

"Don't blame grandpa. He's a pacifist and would never hurt a soul," Red retorted.

"And what happened while you were in Hojo's care, Red? If someone, anyone, had gotten rid of that bastard before he rose in power then Sephiroth wouldn't have been born the way he was; Aeris wouldn't have been captured; Cloud and I wouldn't have been caught and used for torture and experimentation and we wouldn't have lost five years of our lives; thousands of people would still be alive and maybe the world wouldn't be dying."

Bugenhagen looked down. "Don't think that I do not know that. I have spent years searching for the answer to my mistakes. When it came into perspective I could do nothing but stare at my own past; no choice but to continue living, as there was nothing I could do. I had already left the Corporation and it was dangerous for me—I knew too much, but they could not hurt me as long as I stayed silent. They would leave Cosmo Canyon alone; I became a coward in hopes to protect my grandson's future. He was just born and my adoptive daughter and her husband, my canyon's people—I couldn't put them in danger. I can't go back to change the past and I fear it with everything an old man can. There are things you can blame on me, and it does not surprise me. Now, I think that we have said enough." Bugenhagen clicked his fingers together and the ball of chemicals disappeared and then reappeared underneath him.

"Yeah. I get it. Sorry." Zack blinked twice and looked down to Red. "Don't look at me like that, okay?" he sighed. "I just have a lot of pent up anger up here."

Bugenhagen zoomed forward and patted Zack's shoulder. "Don't think too much on it. I know what has been going on with the villagers," his words were like feathers on the wind. "Don't think of it. There are beliefs here that can take years of research. While a massive scientific spot, we also base our beliefs off of the Planet's will and the Goddess. Her children and tales about the _young one _are just as important."

"What do you mean about the 'young one'? Is that some sort of code for something, like a password? They said that to Cloud earlier. The sword that he picked up was something evil, I guess, because the man was acting very strange." The room seemed to be smaller now, because suddenly he was claustrophobic. The entire place was a bit colder than it had been and the fan above his head didn't seem to be working anymore. There was also this annoying sound coming from above, almost like a child's wailing sob. A sob.

"That's the Planet. It is especially strong to you." Bugenhagen floated up, his little, old body weary, "The _young one and _the traveler, as well. Because that is the way that this Planet and her Goddesses work, my friend. Ho ho hoo! One day soon you will understand."

Zack closed his eyes. "But what if I don't want to understand?"

* * *

* * *

**This chapter was extraordinarily difficult to write. I don't get why, either. But I do hope that you enjoyed it and the many hints that were in it! And the Doctor Who reference? I just wanted it there. ** **Please Review!**


	61. Below the Ashes

Author Notes: My beta isn't going to be able to go through any chapters for a little while because of personal matters, but when she gets settled again she'll start up. Ah, lovely unwinding!

As for why it took me so long to finish this, I was having a bout of 'I just don't want to bother right now', which I've never had in such a large dose before on this story. I mean, ten days? How could I leave you guys like that? I feel really bad about that, and I do hope that you're okay. I'm going back to school in a week and I need to get adjusted to certain aspects of not being able to write so much, but trust me—this story shouldn't be going through such a drought again. And then I just couldn't write an action scene. I know that you were looking forward to it, but it just refused to come. And I think the little gift at the end will satisfy you.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have not life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Sixty: Below the Ashes

Zack scanned the room; it smelled of freshly oiled parts to machinery and mako, though there really shouldn't have been mako present in Cosmo Canyon, of all places. Not the sharp twinge, anyway. But his eyes were drawn up. It was the Observatory, which also was a 3D Holographic System of the Planet. The room domed up a few feet from the door and expanded into a large telescope in the center of the circle. There was more equipment, though Zack didn't know what exactly it was used for.

Red left, his tail bandaged from where Zack had stepped on it, to keep it tight so the pain would decrease. The man squelched some of the guilt riding within him—it wasn't like he _meant_ to do it. But still, Zack thought as he looked closer at the room, allowing his eyes to trace over the dozens of switches, pumps and wires, he should have healed it, if Red hadn't been so damn proud. That was something that he had noticed on their travels; Red, Nanaki, whatever he wanted to be called, was one of the most intelligent beings that Zack had ever met, as well as stubborn. Normally he had no problem taking potions or a cure spell, but when it was something that someone in the party did to him, he refused to be treated. Like, when Yuffie had cut open his side, accidentally, a few weeks prior. She had felt so terrible, but Red had been angry at her (or so Zack thought) that he refused to take her spell, and cured himself.

Cloud was across the room, also looking at Red, whose tail had disappeared around the corner of the door. Bugenhagen was floating (Zack finally managed to understand the that ball of mako was simply _willed_ to condense, much like what natural mako did in the stages of collecting knowledge to pressurize into materia) above them, his fingers nimble for a man of such an age. He was quickly punching something into the sphere's side, which caused the lights to go out and the platform with the equipment began to rise.

Zack lifted Aeris up onto it, as her dress didn't allow her to jump, before he and Cloud jumped on, their weight making the machine buckle for a moment before it continued up. They stood next to one another for a moment before Cloud brushed his hand against his cheeks and took a few steps toward Aeris, who was silent it wonder.

The floor shuddered before locking into place, Bugenhagen still floating on his mako/chemical ball, playing with his long beard. He readjusted his glasses before coming forward, pointing one bony finger to the sky, which suddenly illuminated with a thousand stars, and slowly, planets and other forms of space life. "There is the great Constellation of Orion and that is the Midnight Asteroid, which passes Gaia once every thousand years. And that is the closest star formation to us." Zack saw the swirling mist which the man was talking of.

"It's beautiful. This is our Planet and its siblings. Our Solar System." Aeris leaned back, her hands pointing to the planets with rings around them. "They're beautiful—and our sun is so large, but in truth it is but a baby, small and still in its beginning stages of life."

Cloud was staring intently at a meteor shower that was passing over their heads. His blue eyes were lit with feeling, emotion, and Zack took a few steps forward, looking at the rocks with the blonde. They both had their hands limply at their sides and when Zack moved to pull away to see what Aeris continued to look at, they brushed silently together.

_Oh Gaia, I'm turning into a freakin' sap. Can't do this._ Zack thought as he backed away quickly, noticing with a jolt that Cloud's hand had unconsciously reached out. But the moment was broken and Zack coughed, looking away from the boy and toward the rotating planets.

"This a perfect replication of our Universe?" Zack asked as he viewed a black hole, far off in the distance, suck in several enormous-sized rocks sucked into the pit of nothingness. It sent a shiver down his spine.

Bugenhagen clapped his hands together and laughed. "Yes, Mister Fair—this is an exact replica of our Universe, to the best of my ability, anyway. But let us not dawdle. There is something which you must see."

Zack straightened up and looked at the tiny planet which Bugenhagen pointed towards. "That is our Planet, Gaia. There are many beliefs that come with it; that the Goddess Minerva had created our solar system in an exact replica of the planets she once destroyed, but one thing is certain: we are here and this is how it was created." The entire room went pitch-black, Aeris muttering something under her breath.

Watching with rapt attention, two tiny, almost impossibly small specs of dust collided together and began to pull in thousands of other tiny particles, before becoming a deep green glow. It spread like wildfire, the spiderweb of the universe. "This is the Lifestream. It is a condensation of life and emotions which swirls around the universe and creates a bond between planet and its people. When the body dies, where does the soul of the being go? Not just humans, but everything? The trees, the birds? The organisms swimming in our oceans and lakes?

"Instead of fading, it becomes the Planet's lifeblood, keeping the Planet alive. It's a beautiful cycle of life and death, which each and every one of us will face. We will die and become free Spirit Energy, which then passes on to the next life." Bugenhagen looked pointedly at Cloud, who looked bewildered. "Of course, there are certain, extreme, exceptions, but that is how the Planet survives, copes with life and then dies."

Zack thought of what was being said; everything that ever lived continued to trace forth through the planet, like the green webbing coming from its creation? Thinking of a question, Zack began to speak. "But then the Planet shouldn't be dying, like you say it is. It can sustain itself with the Lifestream, right?"

"It once could," Aeris answered, her green eyes closed. "But there is something stealing it away, taking the Planet's life and energy away."

Bugenhagen laughed. "Yes, Miss Gainsborough, you are one hundred percent correct. Let me show you this." He floated back up and pressed another button. He holographic machine buzzed and everything but Gaia disappeared. "This is our Planet, and this is the circle of life."

Watching with all of his attention, Zack saw a man die, his energy running from him to another being. Then the trees began to die, following in the same pattern. It really was a web of survival, of living and dying. The colors of the planet became so wild that he had to shield his face from the brightness.

"But then the Mako Reactors came, and things changed." Suddenly, the Planet and the brightness that held on to it began to dim. Bugenhagen held out his hand and the energy flooded directly out and into the palm of his hand. "The Mako Reactors that Shinra created were safe, in the beginning. There were no truly harmful affects and it cleaned the sky. That was for a short while, before the plants around the place began to wither and die, and the people's lives became harder to sustain. The Planet is dying from its blood being sucked out, refined into what is now known as Mako, and distributed to the people."

"If our spirit energy is lost, then the planet is destroyed..." Cloud whispered, his eyes growing fearful. "But the Shinra must have known that what they were doing was beginning the Planet's destruction. And they didn't care?"

Zack shook his head and Bugenhagen said no.

Zack continued to watch as the energy flooded out, before the planet last ever glimmer of light and slowly broke apart.

Outside, the Planet wailed.

* * *

After the others saw the demonstration, they met up with Zack, Aeris, Cloud and Red outside, in the center of town where a large bonfire blew smoke into the winds. It smelled like freshly-chopped wood and age-old traditions. Zack enjoyed the smell; it reminded him of home, where there were bonfires every summer. The first time he had been to one he had sneaked out in the middle of the night, got drunk and had to stumble back into the house once he had regained enough composure to climb back up.

Looking over his shoulder, Zack took a quick peek at Cloud, who had his head on his knees, staring blankly into the Cos,o Candle. It was beautiful, the light against his cheeks, his weary eyes glowing with the burning of the fire before them. No point in denying it any longer... but the ex-SOLDIER said nothing. Saying something about it was more obvious than the kiss the two had shared in Gongaga.

Zack raised his hands to his lips, running the pads over the rough edges. Cloud's had been so soft against his own and he wished that they could do it again. But he wasn't a fool; Cloud probably allowed it just because Zack was so obviously hurt. That's what friends did—they didn't yell at you when you were broken. They fixed the pieces back together as best as they could, using glue and tape and their own saliva to put it right, to make it stop hurting quite so much.

The others were talking in low murmurs. Zack could make out only so much of it as his mind was on other matters. Like Cloud's hair and how the light seemed to shine off like it was gold or the color of his eyes, how they glowed bright blue. Lame and as stupid as it was and sounded, there was no way of denying it: Cloud was everything he needed.

The guilt which he had fed off of for weeks after leaving Aeris seemed to diminish when they were close, even for the briefest of seconds. Things would be okay even if it didn't seem that way in the beginning. That's what Cloud's persona told him. Deep down in the recesses of his mind, Zack knew that it was Cloud. It wasn't a flash, like lightning, but slow. It had probably been going on since before the Nibelheim Accident. He had even asked Cloud out for dinner once... was that just his mind trying to call out to Cloud? It wouldn't have surprised him.

Naturally, Zack was a pretty happy guy. He was all smiles when he had been younger, even though things were a little rough. When Angeal had died, Zack had broken apart, like a volcano, readying to erupt, its crust shattering and being shot away. Then Nibelheim happened and every scream and tick of a clock was like death touching his with its cold, skeleton hand. Cloud had been the main reason, besides his will to live and see Aeris again.

But the time had changed him, slowly but surely. Things were different now. Nothing too drastic, as he was still a generally happy man, but there was a weight there on his shoulders that was difficult to release himself from. Cloud, as well, has a metaphorical cloud weeping over his head most of the time. He stared sullenly ahead, like he was doing at that moment. Zack wanted to make the smiles that erupted onto Cloud's face come back.

Zack looked to his side, where Red hunched over, his one good eyes staring into the flame with reverence. "When I was a young child, our people sat around this flame, staring into the brilliance if the light... No, I don't believe we should talk about it." Red moved slightly, freeing his tail to wag.

"What happened?" it was Cloud, who was next to him Zack. He skirted forward, keeping his arms wrapped around his knees in a protective, thoughtful pose.

Red looked over, his good eyes scanning the people surrounding the Cosmo Candle. "It is about my parents. My mother was a proud, beautiful woman, who was beloved by all. She was a kind soul but it would have been foolish to call her weak. She defended this great canyon with her head held high. My mother, my beautiful, human mother." Zack could picture it—a woman with feathers in her long, silken black hair, eyes like onyxes and dark, beautiful skin. That was the type of women that birthed Nanaki, the last of his kind. "Her name had been Nanikono, the mother of these lands. I do not hold many memories, but the ones I do have a precious to me. I feel pride at being her son."

Red snarled at the beginning of his next sentence, voice rough and callous. "My father, however, was a coward, running from us and his fate of a thousand arrows. The people of this canyon needed him, the coward of the Gi, supposed protector from his own race. I have explained to you that a human women can bear a child from a Gi, and a human man could sire a child of a Gi. The former was most common, as the more powerful of humans made the more powerful of human/Gi crossbreeds. My own mate, dead, was the last full Gi, saved as a child from the very war which my mother sacrificed her life. My father ran."

"You cannot forgive him, even after all of this time?" Bugenhagen asked as he quickly floated over, his mako causing the light of the flame to reflect against the surface.

He turned to his grandfather. "Absolutely not. He is nothing to me or to this canyon. Mother never received the proper burial, where her ashes were to be scattered to continue to protect this canyon. It was her wish, and she did not receive it. And he? He left her for dead. Why forgive a being who cannot stand by his 'companion'?" he spit the last word out like it left a dirty taste in his mouth.

Zack rubbed his head. If what Red was saying was true, why did Bugenhagen look so very, very sad? More wrinkles appeared on his skin. He was tutting, as well. "I believe that it is time that you see. Bring along three of your friends. It would not be safe to bring more down. I would suggest, oh, Mister Fair, Mister Strife and the lovely Miss Gainsborough?"

Zack saw the man's eyes twinkle. There was nothing malicious hidden in their depths, but it was obvious that he was keeping something away from them.

"Why them?" Tifa asked, standing up and shaking the dirt off of her backside.

"Ho ho hooo! No insults meant, my dear. It is just that the Planet wills it. I do not know much, but when She asks for something, I cannot deny it, if it is in my power. And you would be able to sleep. See, there are good things to do with it!"

Everyone wanted to talk, but Red quickly hushed them. "Where are we going, grandpa? What do I need to see that is so important and dangerous? The Canyon is safe, right?" Red's eyes filled with fear. "It isn't the Gi, right?"

Bugenhagen tapped his fingers against his glasses, then smoothed down his shaggy beard. "There will be monsters there, but I am sure that you will be able to hand yourselves. Protect an old man like me."

"I won't bring you somewhere dangerous, grandpa!"

Bugenhagen leaned down and pat Red on the muzzle. "Do not worry yourself. And I promised your mother, so there is little option. She was a strong woman—I would not dare go against what she told me. That is, until now." The soft chuckle was filled with remorse and sadness. Zack wondered if that was the way all men would become; knowing everything, haunted by anything.

Zack dug his fingers into the dirt, pulling back with a handful of the substance, which fell through like sand through a sieve. "I"ll be there in an hour. Cloud? Aeris?"

Both simultaneously agreed and before Red was able to say anything on the matter, Bugenhagen clapped his hands together in praise and floated off. Red opened his mouth a second too late; the man was already a block away.

"There is no choice on the matter, I see. It would be best if the rest of you went to rest for the remaining time. Change your clothing, sharpen your weapons. When my grandfather speaks of danger he does not kid. I can only hope that there is a point to what he has us doing. Sorry the rest of you can't come." Red hunched on his paws, meeting every staring face with a look.

"I wanna go!" Yuffie exclaimed, but the others ignored her.

"'S fine wit' me." Barret stood, stretched out his arms and cracked his neck loudly. Cait covered his ears. "Ain't like you betta' than me, Spiky. An', I ain't gunna fight. I wanna go talk ta sum' elders. Leran 'bout the Planet. I studied their writin's when I was still a recruit in Avalanche. I think it'd be good ta do it again. There was sum' stuff that had me confused, but with them 'round I ain't got a doubt that I'll learn sumthin'."

Tifa, however, was a little more miffed about the situation, Zack noticed from her hands. They were balled up tightly into fists. She said nothing, but her nostrils flared dangerously.

"You okay, Tif?" Cloud asked as he wiped his hands on his pants and stood. Zack glanced at the blonde briefly before grabbing another handful of sand, letting it drip from his fingers. There was no way Cloud felt the same way, especially with Tifa, beautiful Tifa, being the one his gaze was on.

_It's not like I should have expected anything from him. He's a good friend and he's still so fucked up because of Hojo that he probably thought my kissing him was completely natural. Something that friends did, maybe? Since that day, in the wastelands... have I loved him since then? _Zack threw some of the sand into the fire, watching it flare for a moment. _That was so long ago. A month? Six weeks? And wouldn't have I known before now, just recently?_

Tifa and Cloud had continued their conversation as the others dispersed. They were standing there, Tifa with her hand on her hip, Cloud with his arms crossed and his back hunched, and Zack stood, noticing that he didn't draw either of their eyes away from one another. They were just staring, their mouths moving but Zack couldn't hear what was being said. Maybe it was the flames or maybe it was just his refusal to butt into another part of Cloud's life, but he did see what was going to happen before it did.

Tifa's body quickly turned and for a flash of a second Zack thought that she would hit Cloud, and nearly jumped in to intervene. But their lips meeting, Cloud's shocked face and Tifa's one of bliss, stung more than any hit could have possibly felt. Mouth going dry, Zack quickly left the area. He didn't want to see anything more with the two love birds, and his desire at that very moment was to snap the brunette woman's neck.

The town was quiet, a blissful retreat most of the time, but now the silence was overbearing its welcome. Now there were painful thoughts lurking on the surface of his mind and he had no choices but to listen to them. Chanting, cursing, screaming out and there was nothing he could do but listen. Even the loudest place, the bar, was nothing but a dull whisper to what he wanted.

People were looking at him, and Zack quickly marched forward, slamming himself onto the bar stool, cringing as he saw that more regulars turned from their drinks toward him.

The lady took his order of a soda and within moments the fizzing glass slid in front of him. There wasn't any pleasure in the drink; a beer, instead, may have done the trick. The beer came less than a second later, like the woman actually excepted that that was the real drink he was pining over.

_I'm such a weak priss. _Zack ran a hand through his hair as he swallowed a mouthful of the bitter brew. _It's not like he ever noticed me. Why the fuck do I want to rip her head off her shoulders? That's not fair to Cloud or her. And she even stated then that she wanted him, straight from the beginning. And it was just a kiss. I have no right to be doing this. Nothing at all. I don't own him and he can choose who he likes. It isn't even like I had a chance anyway._

The other side of Zack was screaming something, but Zack slumped down a little, pushed his half-drunk bottle of beer away from him, and dropped a few gil to pay for the unconsumed beverage.

"Please, don't," the bartender said as she slipped the gil away from her, back toward Zack, who stared at her, perplexed. "We do not need your money. Save it." She picked up the gil and outstretched her hand, slipping the money into Zack's hand. "We do not need your money, sir."

"This about that whole thing in the weapons shop? Because, lady." Zack leaned closer as his hands took the money back. "You guys are really beginning to creep me out. I'd like an explanation, but," Zack said, turning to a few of the customers, "I'm sure that you won't be telling me, anyway. I think I'll go." And with those last words, he turned silently from the bar, slipping his gil back into his pocket.

* * *

Cloud was sitting on a set of boxes when Zack got to the meeting point. He had followed Aeris and Bugenhagen, the red-furred beast mentioning that Cloud had gone upstairs to speak with Bugenhagen. Now, both were in the main room, the blonde sitting still while the old man whizzed around on his ball of condensed mako, pressing random buttons.

"Grandpa, what is the meaning of this?"

Bugenhagen laughed and looked over his shoulder. "Is the little boys who play in this area in their beds? Ho ho hoo!" He jabbing his wrinkled finger into a small wooden box, which made the sound of something unlocking far away. "It would not be wise for me to open this so carelessly if they are around. This place is dangerous." His bright eyes searched over the faces of the people before him, Zack pulling his Buster Sword from its magnetic sheath. Cloud did the same.

"You're welcome," Cloud said as he tossed his sword over his back. It automatically pulled the sword into the correct position. "I think Orios is as sharp as it could possibly ever be. It actually cut my hand when I grabbed it."

Aeris made a sound as she reached for her bangle, to pull out a cure. Zack had been on the same track before Cloud waved his hands, both of his hands, in front of him. There weren't any wounds.

"Bugenhagen healed them before I was able to blink, right?" the blonde turned to the elderly man, who nodded tersely. "And it wasn't gushing blood, like I'm sure you're thinking, Zack."

Scratching his head, the ex-SOLDIER admitted to himself that the visualization of Cloud's hand hanging on by a little slice of skin was what he had first thought. It was stupid, considering that a wound of such size and nature would have had Cloud rolling around on the floor in pain, or barely holding on to consciousness. That wasn't what the blonde was doing, quite the opposite, actually, so instead of worrying, Zack dropped his hand down and looked intensively at Aeris, who muttered something under her breath before doing the same.

Bugenhagen didn't seem to be shocked, and just waved his hands around. "No need for weapons until we get down the rope. Well, you get down the rope. It's rather long and Red is going to need someone to carry him down."

The beast in question shook his mane. "No, grandpa, I don't think this is wise. You are not a..."

"Young, dashing young man like your company and yourself? I guess you would be able to handle yourself well enough."

Zack looked down to Red, then to himself. There was no way Red was going to magically grow human hands or feet, let alone thumbs, and so Red getting himself down ropes or ladders was highly impossible. Unless, of course, somewhere hidden in his fur there were wings. "You sure, Red?"

Red nodded. "Do not worry about me. Just, go down first, and I will follow with my grandfather. Just, don't look up."

Cloud and Aeris exchanged glances, but Zack shrugged, pulled on an obstructing spike of hair, effectively pushing it behind his ear, before turning around, looking at the large, and very much sealed door. "Okay, then. No point of asking. But, if I need to carry you down don't think anything of it."

"Noted."

Bugenhagen let out another laugh and was off again, randomly pushing small points in the rock. Each time he moved on to another place something clicked, until after five minutes of the man whizzing around the room, he stopped and floated cautiously to a small area which, on first glance, Zack hadn't noticed. Now, however, the glowing button was more than visible—it was drawing everyone's attention.

"Now, let me just do this, push that, wiggle on this," the man muttered as he stuck his tongue out of his mouth, leaving a wet spot on his beard. Something loud suddenly smashed into the door with great force and Zack jumped back, grabbing the handle of the Buster Sword over his shoulder, but Bugenhagen quickly raised his hand, shaking it. "Oh, no, I just activated the opening. There's no monster attacking us. Yet."

Zack's morale lowered. "So you're telling me," Zack questioned, fingers itching for a nice, powerful materia, "that whatever is down there can make that kind of noise?"

Bugenhagen stayed quite for a moment, his eyes getting a far-off look. Then, without another moment of hesitation he twisted around on his ball, opened the door with a quick bang, and turned back around. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Cloud cursed and Aeris said a prayer to the Goddess that they would survive. "Is that why you wanted half of the group to stay up here?" she asked, her hand going toward her hair. There was a small materia ball hidden within the depths of her hair, wrapped with the pink ribbon he had given her on their first dates.

Zack's eyes, to their own will, traveled to Cloud's form. Zack would have given him a nice present on their first date, if they had ever had one. There was a list of things—a chocobo ride through the Gold Saucer, an personal engraving into their dogtags, which both still wore around their necks like a promise to the past. Zack kept his so that he couldn't forget those he lost to the Shinra, what he himself had lost because of the time that had passed. Cloud... Zack could only imagine. A promise to him mother to become stronger? A promise to his teammates to work harder?

_A promise to Tifa to protect her?_

Zack felt his tongue go numb, but when Cloud sent him an odd look, Zack's face suddenly became devoid of true emotion, only now showing a large, easily cracked grin.

"This is gunna be fun! I mean, if we die, the rest can just come and get us. Well, whatever parts of us are left over, anyway."

Cloud stuck out his tongue, and Zack smiled a little wider, a little sadder, if anyone bothered to look through the craters in the mask. But none seemed to and the ebony-haired man shook his head before looking at the now-open door. There was a smell coming from below, Zack noticed and he narrowed his eyes at the small, thin and straggly rope that was going to be his guide down.

"Just don't fall," Bugenhagen commented. "It's a long ways down."

* * *

They had already been walking for over an hour. After a strenuous climb down (Zack didn't bother to ask why, a few minutes after he landed, how Red was able to get down the rope), he, Cloud and Aeris took the front row, with Red and Bugenhagen hanging a little ways away. The old man was too brittle to fight and the ceiling of the monstrous cave wasn't high enough to be able to hide during any fights that the team ran into. It was safer for someone to stay a few meters behind while Zack and the others cleaned house.

The path was pretty straight-forward and there were few places where an ambush could take place, but Zack and Cloud both took care of most of them with a few slashes of their swords, or having Aeris send a spell to the rock above, making it crack and fall, effectively destroying small areas of worry. The place had an aura that made Zack shiver. It housed death, from the spears sticking out of the ground with heads piked, the skulls held only by magic.

Enemies were frequent, but nothing was too powerful. At first Zack had thought it was luck that they continued to kill with first hits, but in the end it only succeeded in making him worry; they were sending out drones of weak monsters to meet their swords. It seemed almost planned, and Zack knew that there was bound to be stronger ones. These were just there to make them put their guard down.

"Once, this canyon was shared between humans and the Gi," Bugenhagen said, floating a little closer, causing everyone to stop. "They were always at war with one another; the humans believed in the Goddess, while the Gi believed only in bloodlust and war. When a war came around, the humans, our ancestors, had no qualms sentencing the Gi into the chasms of the canyon. The Gi had no way of getting back, but in payment they would steal men and women to use for their own fantasies."

Red looked away in shame. "That was what my mother was, right?"

Bugenhagen laughed. "No, my boy. If you would let me explain, then there would be no misconceptions on your part. She had me seal this place, before leaving to continue her war. A prideful woman. He was prideful, too."

Red perked his ears and Zack looked away, down the winding path lit by a river of mako. The place was cold, about twenty degrees colder than the top of the canyon had been, and he could almost see his breath before his nose. Aeris was shivering a little before she cast a small fire spell in the palm of her hand. Bugenhagen had a thick coat while Red had his fur. The only people who were unprotected were the two that didn't need any.

"We locked them down here because they do not like the cold. It pains them and makes their bones ache. We left them on the other side with this place to only way back to the village. It was not possible for them to get through. Or, so we believed." Bugenhagen looked around, his eyes drawn to the cave walls. Zack could see he was looking at the drawings that painted the rock; wars and death and pain.

"These people, the Gi," Aeris started, "were they like us? Or like Red?"

Red snorted. "They are like me, viscous-looking and feral. The only thing they lust for is the blood of others and sex. They enjoyed to crossbreed with the humans they took hostage. My mother was one of their victims."

Bugenhagen shook his head. "No, my grandson, you do not understand all of it. We should continue on a little ways before I finish my story. It is important that we get to the end, so that you can see."

They continued down, deep into the center of the cave, beating small monsters as they went by. The only monster which gave them a semblance of a fight was a large spider, deformed with time and age, which wanted to wrap them in its web. It was hungry and feeble, living off of the weak-blooded monsters that thrived off of the area. That and their swords, which quickly cut off the beast's legs, made the fight almost pitifully weak. It actually upset Zack; he had been looking forward to killing some powerful monsters.

"There was one Gi who was different from his ancestors. He believed in love, that emotions were important. He was an elder, one of the strongest of the time, and for his two hundredth birthday he was given the daughter of the our Canyon's most beloved elder. She was still young, a child bride. It was not his only wife, as he had several others, but she was his favorite. When she became pregnant with his child, they fled. An elder does not flee from his tribe."

"Grandpa? Are you talking about...?"

Bugenhagen shook his head, pointing his finger. "We must continue before I finish my story. I feel that we are close. Can you not sense your blood tingling, the rush of heat in your paws? Can you not see where we are going and what you must do? And it would be a good time to make sure you are prepared. The last time one went against _him _the village was slaughtered." The elderly man took the initiative to dart forward, floating ahead. "I will not sit here and not help, so please do not look at me like that, Nanaki. I am old, but I am not dead. And I have a bone to pick with this thing."

* * *

The man, the Gi tribe's elder, had been a difficult fight, until Aeris had accidentally shot it with a cure spell that was aimed at Red, who had gotten caught and possessed for a brief moment of time. He had began to light his fur on fire, until Cloud was able to call out Shiva, who destroyed the flames with a wisp of air from her mouth.

The Gi tribe's elder, a zombie-like monster with no sense of humanity, scared Zack a little. It was clear that he had once had mako in his body, from his glowing eyes and the fact that its skin, even dead and rotting, shone with something that Zack could only call a mako sheen.

"He sealed himself down here, with the hordes of monsters and his own kin. They were strong, but he was stronger. Seto, warrior of the Canyon, protecting the people who thought him a primitive race. But that changed when you were born, when your mother bore the seal of her fate on her breast like a badge of honor. The mother of our home, and you are the child of her.

"Seto was took as many people down with him, even as his body changed and froze in time. He managed to seal this place off before the poison took him down. Can you see him? Seto? Your father? Even now, years after, he protects this canyon. He protects the child that he created with love, not hate, and he weeps."

Red was staring off at the deformed body above the ledge. It lead to the exit to the cave, deep down inside of the chasm, and the stars twinkled wildly over the expansion of sky. The beast on the rocks was so very different from Red. It had hands, human hands. Parts of its body were deformed, twisted, and the arrows that stuck out only accentuated the strangeness. His face was twisted in a howl of pain and it looked like his back was cracking. There was spaces where the skin was torn; human skin.

Aeris whispered something of shock, but both Zack and Cloud hung back. The blonde was the only person looking down in respect.

"I think we should go," Aeris said. She wiped her hand across her dirty hair and met Zack's eyes. "Let's leave them alone; they need to talk, and we shouldn't butt in."

Zack nodded, not meeting the woman's eyes. She would be able to see him, every emotion he was feeling in that moment of time, and Aeris, being Aeris, would swivel in to help. He didn't deserve such a good friend, such a good ex-girlfriend. And Cloud kissing Tifa had just sealed that. And really, rubbing it in her face that he was upset about a little kiss (part of Zack was screaming that _that_ was not a little peck on the cheek) was just wrong. She was still mourning; he should have been, as well.

Pointedly, Zack turned away from the group, specifically Cloud. Not like he would know, the ex-SOLDIER thought bitterly. He was probably thinking about kissing Tifa again. Who in their right mind would pass up something like that?

"Fine, let's mosey."

Aeris laughed but Cloud, as far as Zack could hear, only breathed in a shallow breath.

Heading back through the tunnel and away from the rising sun, the group heard a howling wail of both pain and acceptance, and the ebony-haired man knew that he left at the right time. Red needed this. Closure... something he wished he had more of.

Something closed around his wrist once they got to the room where the had fought the Gi elder. Aeris had continued on her way after waving, so it wasn't her. There had been a definitive step in her walk, one that Zack knew as Aeris' 'sad steps'. But she continued on, humming a tune to herself. That left only one person to be holding his wrist.

"Hey, Cloudy. What's up?" Zack looked down again. "Oh, look. There's some mater—"

Soft lips engulfed Zack's and the materia was forgotten. Cloud's reached up and slid his hands into his hair, giving him leverage enough to push Zack into the side of the cave. The pressure eased for a moment and the black-haired man panicked, feeling the fingers that were entwined in his hair letting go. With a quick moan, Zack wrapped his own arms around the blonde, pulling him closer. While the pointed rocks digging into his side were not pleasant, the fact that Cloud's tongue was tentatively swiping against his lips, begging for them to part, made any pain or discomfort disappear.

Slowly Zack parted his lips, feeling a silken tongue enter his own mouth. Their tongues swiped against one another, sending chills down Zack's spine. He could taste the sweetness from Cloud's mouth. There was something about the possessiveness in the boy's touch that made his stomach bubble as he allowed his tongue to flick over the tip of Cloud's.

Soon, too soon for Zack or Cloud, it seemed, they broke apart, the blonde resting his head on Zack's chest, his hands still entwined in the long black locks. "Don't think that I wanted her to kiss me."

"But she's beautiful and you had the biggest crush on her. I remember that."

Cloud snickered and looked up, tugging lightly on Zack's hair. "You're blind. I want this. I've wanted it for a long time; why do you have such a problem with this?" Cloud's blue eyes sparkled.

No words came to Zack. It was just a flurry of Cloud's breathing. Instead he leaned down, pressing his lips once again to the blonde's. It was soft, like touches of feathers against his skin.

"I want this, too."

And Zack rested his chin on top of Cloud's mop of unruly hair, laughing. The boy looked up questioningly, and Zack kissed the top of his head. "Two weeks ago I would have thought you would have beaten me half to death if I ever did that. Can I do it again?" A cheeky grin passed over Zack's lips.

Cloud smiled, but pulled away, untangling his hands from the mess of Zack's hair. "No," he answered. "We need to get back up. I don't want Aeris or Red finding us. That wouldn't be the best of ideas." Cloud pointed his hand to the small materia fountain. "Worst comes to worst I can just say that we wanted to look at the fountain."

Zack agreed.

"Is it bad that I don't want anyone to know?" Cloud asked sheepishly, and the ex-SOLDIER resisted the urge to bite his tongue.

"No, Cloudy. Whatever you want. I trust your judgment better than mine."

He could see, from the corner of his eye that Aeris was looking at them, the only thing he allowed himself to do was hold Cloud closer to him. There was an ache in him, but Cloud's touch made the pain less acute.

But there was guilt, hanging its head like a shamed dog.

"I see her," Cloud mumbled as he leaned down, picking up the small orb of glittering green. "But I trust her."

Cloud's blue eyes shined as he placed the materia ball into Zack's hand. "And I can tell," he continued, "that she still loves you."

"I know, Cloudy-boy."

"And the only thing I can hope is you care about me like you did her."

* * *

**This was the chapter that was never meant for me to write. It was like pulling out teeth. Or having every nerve on fire. And you all know how quickly I am able to update with what I think are good updates, so this was kind of unacceptable. I hope the content was good, though. And I'll get to replying to your reviews as soon as possible. It's just been a bit crazy. **

**Please Review! **


	62. And Oblivion Fell

Author Notes: Sorry for it taking a long time, again. Busy like a little bumble bee, and when I get home from school I'm just completely wiped out. So, it had to wait until the weekend. Again, my apologies. It's going to take a little while to back into the swing of things, but it really shouldn't take too long. I hope to continue working hard. But I did manage to read a lot of good fan fiction during my mini hiatus. While that was fun, it's still good to move on forward.

Also, I've added more stories to my favorites list. Go read them!

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Sixty One: And Oblivion Fell

"You totally shouldn't have left me! I mean, it was so freaking _lame_! Tifa's been all googly-eyed and Barret keeps snoring. I don't even know what's goin' on with Cait-- stupid robot! It actually bit me—bit _me_! Sure, I did pull on its tail, but it couldn't feel that, right? It's not like it has nerves or nothin'."

The moment that they had gotten back to Cosmo Canyon the peace was broken. Zack had been happy down there, looking at the stars, Cloud's hands in his hair and his lips on his own. There was a giddy sensation that stayed in his stomach for the returning trip, jolts slamming into him whenever Cloud's hand brushed against his as they walked. Aeris was a few feet ahead and pointedly pretended that hadn't seen the kiss. While there was guilt, deep like a poison arrow through his back, Cloud's occasional glances and his hand slipping against made everything a little better. But Yuffie's whining was already making the cool, blissful hours fade away like sand in an hourglass.

"Shu' up," Barret said as he pushed a few books into his bags. They were thick tomes, Zack noticed, but said nothing on the matter. "You ain't gotta complain 'bout everything. You slept most of the time, anyways."

Yuffie huffed, pouted out her bottom lip. "But I... want..." She didn't finish her sentence, as she suddenly went bolting from the room, Barret's bag in her hands.

"Huh, whut? Tha' lil' runt!" Barret yelled. "She best ta be givin' that back! Not throwin' it over the side." He barreled out of the room, hand already switching the saftely of his gun off..

Zack looked to Aeris, who dropped on to one of the nearby beds. She yawned, stretched her arms and sighed.

"Tired?"

Aeris nodded, allowing her eyes to drift closed. "Very much so," she said shortly. Her voice was clipped, but it was obvious to Zack that it wasn't just from tiredness.

"You know I care about you, Aeris..." Zack started.

Aeris kept her eyes closed. "I know that, Zackary. Don't... please." There was begging in her voice. "I don't think that I can take that right now, Zack. I'm just a little... never mind."

"But you were the one who said that I loved him, didn't you? That's why you left me."

Aeris sighed, her fists hitting the mattress. "I know," she said bitterly. "But I didn't expect that it would take you a matter of weeks to be up to that stage. And you did it where anyone could have seen. Red suspects, I'm sure, but what if Bugenhagen saw? Or if Tifa... poor Tifa."

"She wasn't even down there!" Zack crossed his arms over his chest, leaning away. "I didn't mean for it to happen. It wasn't me who initiated it, either. And before you say anything, no, I wasn't pushing him away."

The woman lifted her feet up, kicking her shoes off. "Zack," her voice was soft as she spoke, "you hurt me. Couldn't you have waited, just a little while? There were plenty of places for you to go, but right in the middle of the cavern, where there was a rock formation not half a room away?" She covered her eyes. "I'm being irrational."

"Yeah, a little bit." Zack tapped his shoes together and leaned down, collecting Aeris' shoes, putting then under the bed before removing his own. He sucked in a sharp breath. "You know me; I wouldn't... I didn't... I thought that you would be okay. It's not just new to you, it's new to me, too."

Aeris said nothing, but her body was shaking. Zack leaned his shoulders forward in a sigh. Slowly, not to startle her, Zack sat down at the corner of the mattress and let his fingers touch Aeris' foot. She didn't pull back, even though he was touching a nasty bruise.

"It's nothing," Aeris said as she leaned up, pulling her feet away to be hidden in the confines of her native dress. She was still pretty—an air of delicacy, like her flowers. Long brown hair, a little longer now because of their travels, tied up in a neat pink bow, but her eyes held so much sadness.

Zack smiled and reached out to touch it. "I remember that day," he mused.

"So do I." Aeris' hand rose up and she grabbed the end, wrapping its length around her finger. "I'm going to wear it forever, remember? Even if you and I weren't meant to be together for as long."

Zack looked into her eyes. There was sadness and receding anger, like the high tide washing out. There was a deepness that so very few could possess—Aeris, because of her blood heritage, but there were others. Angeal, Genesis, Sephiroth, Reno and Cloud—their eyes spoke of past and present and future. It was a collision of right and wrong, and Zack knew that somewhere, for some reason, that was important. Eyes spoke of things which the mind did not pick up.

"Yeah, I know. I wanted you to wear it." Zack lifted his knees up to his chin, resting comfortably. "Why don't you let me cure you? You have to be in a lot of pain with those feet. They're getting all torn up, and it wouldn't do you any goof if you ended up getting an infection."

Aeris waved dismissively. "I don't want to overdo my body. There's only so far that I can push myself. I'll do it later, when I wake up."

Questioningly, Zack pulled out a ball of glass-like green. "You sure?" he asked, waving the ball like it was a beacon or a lighthouse. "I can do it for you, if you need it. Or Cloud can, when he gets out of the bathroom. He's like creepy good at magic. I swear I saw him hit a butterfly with an ice spell. In all my time in Shinra, I never saw anyone besides... well, someone, do that. Never. Normally SOLDIERs just unleash the spell and it goes flying in the general direction that the guy wants it to go."

"There are no highly-skilled mages?"

Zack scoffed, throwing the materia onto the bed, then putting his hands behind his head. "There are, but you don't normally see them. There really aren't a lot of them at all—a few dozen through the ranks. There was only one in First Class... man, he was good at magic. Didn't even need materia; he probably had too much mako in his body. Could summon without touching materia."

Aeris jolted out of the bed. "What do you mean by that? It's not... normal?"

Zack laughed, clutching his stomach. "Ha-ha-ha!" he said between breathes. "I-ha-can't-ha-believe-ha ha ha- normal!" There were tears of mirth on his face, which he wiped off. "Aw, Aer, you're funny. No, it's not normal. Granted, you've always been a little special, so I wouldn't worry about it to much. Probably has to do with who your ma was. She was an Ancient and so are you. Guess there isn't much you can do about it."

Aeris' nose wrinkled. "I... I... never mind." She sat back down. "It's not a big deal, anyway. I think I'll go to sleep. Just be..." she contemplated what she was going to say, Zack noticed from how he eyebrows moved and lines of concentration took its place between her green eyes. "Quiet," she finally managed. "Yes, quiet."

He stood from her bed, slipped off his shoes and laid down on his own mattress. Zack rubbed his hair with the back of his hand and after a while of staring up at the ceiling fell into an almost sleep, not fully resting until a set of wet spikes touched his arm. The cool dampness was like a lullaby, and before Zack could even curl into a ball he was asleep.

But there was green tendrils reaching out to him, beckoning him forward. And with it came the haze of blue.

* * *

When he woke, there was something hot nuzzling against his cheek. It wasn't Cloud, who was laying next to him on the other side, where his head was driven into the pillow and Zack's bicep. Zack blearily blinked his eyes, fog meeting his sight.

"Whu'iz it?" he murmured. "I don't wanna do nufin'."

"It would be beneficial to both your body and mind that you get up now, rather than wiat for Tifa or Yuffie to come to wake you." It was Red. "The others have tried; Cait was the last to come in here. Your delightful Cloud ripped out bits of hair from his tail. Since then he has been sulking in the back of the van with Mog as his company. Which is, by the way, fixed."

A voice came from below his ear; Zack shivered. "The car or Mog?"

"Hmm?"

"The vehicle is fixed and Tifa has already elected to be the driver today. She believes that it wouldn't be wise for you to drive again, Zack. After all, it was you who broke the engine of the car in the first place."

"Eh, I didn't mean to!" he complained. "I mean, how was I supposed to know that the freaking thing was gunna break from not changing the engine? I mean, come on now—"

Red pulled his face back, turned on his back paws and walked toward the door. "There is a warm meal waiting for you downstairs. Tifa spent the entire morning making a meal for us to eat. She also made enough meals to last for a week, I believe. But it does not seem to faze her. I think she was actually enjoying herself. Care to answer why?"

He was gone before Cloud or Zack could so much as utter a syllable.

"So she's happy." Zack turned to Cloud, who was pulling himself away from Zack. He pushed a few stray hairs out of his eyes before huffing, crossing his arms. "She's happy."

"I guess she is." Zack let out a forced laugh that strained his throat. "Um, yeah. I know that she means a lot to you." Zack resisted the urge to leaned forward and move Cloud's hair out of his eyes. "I mean, I hope... uh, yeah. Hope that stuff is."

Cloud cut him off. "I knew her when I was a child. She wasn't very fond of me back then; in fact, her father thought I was a bad influence after an accident that nearly killed her. She didn't hang out with me. And the guys she did hang out with made me the school punching bag. I don't know what changed her mind," Cloud shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh."

"It wasn't so bad, really. I had a friend—he was very kind and didn't look at me like the others did. He joined Shinra when I did, but I can't remember what happened to him. It's still a little blurry. I think it may be because of... what happened. Back there, in—"

"Don't stress yourself out, Cloudy. Everything'll come back to ya in due time. It's not like you need to remember everything now." Zack rubbed the gunk from his eyes, wiping his fingers on his shirt. "We better get up. Don't want anyone to come and bug us away. But I do wish I could know what Cait looks like, missing all of the fur."

Struggling out of bed, throwing clothes around and about, searching for my bag. "Uhhh, Cloudy? You know where my clothes is? I can't fi—"

Cloud grabbed Zack by the arm and twisted him around. There was a smirk on his lips and he leaned forward, but before their lips met he lifted the clean shirt, effectively blocking a kiss.

"Looks like I found you a shirt," he snickered before taking a few steps back and leaning down to rummage through a bag. "But now let's find you some pants."

"I've got a new pack of undies, so don't worry about that," Zack snickered. "I wouldn't let you rifle through them, either. Just got to the kissing—wouldn't want to overload you with the details of my skivvies. But, I will tell you, they are pretty clean. Nothing gross in them or anything."

A pair of pants clonked against his head, the button getting stuck in his mop of hair. Zack laughed a little louder and pulled them out. "Aw, aren't you in a loving mood? Doesn't matter anyway; I wasn't going to be inviting you into my shower. Like to get clean, not all dirtied up again."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Don't flatter yourself. As you've said—it's been a day. No need to be even thinking like that yet."

"Right, right." The ex-SOLDIER scratched his chin and sighed. "How long is gunna take for me to get into your pants?"

A pair of socks were lunged in his direction, but Zack caught them in his hand. Lifting them to his eye, he caught a few stray tears of laughter. "Aw, don't think I'm serious, pumpkin. I'm just messing with you. And it's not like we don't have forever for me to be doing dirty things to you. We're gunna get all old and crinkly together. Well, not really. Which is pretty cool in itself; we're gunna look like this when we're eighty. I hope my sex drive isn't dead by then, though. Because sixty years would be pushing it."

"I think you should go take a shower," Cloud said, crossing his arms in what he obviously hoped to be a terrifying look. All it made Zack think of was a chocobo that didn't get its way. As long as he kept a few feet from the beak things would be good. "And before you ask, no, there is not any room for me to join you. And I have several other objects that I can throw at you which are actually much sharper."

Zack raised his hands in defeat; a peace gesture to keep Cloud from throwing something heavy like his SOLDIER belt or his combat boots. "Okay, okay. You win, I lose, we go on with life like normal people. Well, except that I get to grope you whenever I get bored or hor—"

Something whizzed past Zack's left ear and slammed into the door behind him. Quickly shaking his head, he dodged the second one before pushing himself into the bathroom and closing the door swiftly behind him.

"Okay, that wasn't that great of an idea. But, I still need to grab those underwear. Looks like you'll still get a peek at them. I want the one with the moogles. They're cute, don't you think? Not the chocobo's okay? Because it's obvious that you don't like the idea of having any part of you near my di—"

"I get the idea. Open the door of a moment and I'll give them over."

Zack shook his head, looking at himself in the mirror. His hair, like it had been back when he was younger, didn't really seem to match his face anymore. It was a little too thin, the baby-fat that was left from his childhood long gone. His eyes were brighter and there was something in his skin, too pale (so much like Cloud's skin) for his time in the sun or even his heritage. H Once upon a time he was tanned and dark , with sweat in his hairline and scrapes on his hands. Dirt under his fingernails was one of the few things left that was normal. Not even those looked quite right—the nail was too glass-like to be real nails.

"Just shove them under the door. I'm naked already and I don't think you want to see that."

Cloud muttered something from behind the door that sounded like a blender chopping ice.

"What was that, Cloudy?"

"I said that you're odd," Cloud replied a little too quickly.

"Now, Cloudy. Don't lie to me, lovely. I can tell when you're lying to me. And you said something about getting into my pants. My naked pants at that, didn't you?"

Cloud slammed his hand on the door before a pink and white patterned moogle boxers were shoved under the door. "There's your underwear. Take a shower and maybe you should think about brushing your teeth."

Zack looked to the sink, where his toothbrush laid. "How do I know that while I was sleeping you didn't scrub the toilet with it?"

_I trust him more than that. I hope he just knows I'm bickering with him for the fun of it. It's fun getting him rilled up. I like the color it adds to his face. _Zack thought these things as he pulled the boxers from underneath the door.

"Because you trust me, Zack," Cloud said, exasperated.

"Wait! Can you... can I get a kiss?" Zack opened the door a little and stuck his face partially out. His eyes searched from Cloud, who was a few feet away with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall. "Just a little one and I promise that I won't ask for another today."

Cloud Sighed before walking forward and placing his lips against Zack's. "So demanding," Cloud murmured, but the was a smile on his pale, beautiful lips. "I don't think I'll ever get used to this..."

"Well, I think I'll do just fine with it," Zack said cheekily. Cloud swatted him on the head lightly, still smiling, before he closed the door.

"I'm going to go eat breakfast. And yes, without you." There was clunking of Cloud's booted shoes against the floor before they disappeared.

"Eh, that's true. I do trust you." Zack scratched his nose before taking his clothes off and turning the water on. There was a powerful smell coming from it and the water was not clear, but it wasn't poisonous. Zack remembered as much from Midgar. Sometimes the clearest of water could be poisonous.

But something inside of him was stirring. Something that Zack didn't want to think about. It had been a long time since he had... done _anything_ He let his hands wander rather than scrubbing the filth from his hair or soaping his body. They knew each tiny place that sent shivers down his spine or caused him to bite his lip in a suppressed moan.

But it wasn't the same.

* * *

They left soon after Zack got out, a package of turnovers tucked away in Zack's bag from eating whenever he became hungry, as food didn't want to go down his throat while he was in Cosmo Canyon. It may have had something to do with Red eating raw meat below the table, but Zack was sure that it was more from Tifa's lovesick glances toward Cloud, or the "One more pancake, Cloud," or maybe it was the "No, let me put your bags in the car. You look so tired, Cloud,". Tifa was a sweet girl and the sable-haired man did care for her, but this, the constant hunting for Cloud's affections (when they were already given to another) were grating on all of his nerves at the same time.

It wasn't her fault. She still thought that she had a chance, that Cloud would one day soon turn to her and kiss her like she did while they were near the fire. But it was Cloud's fault that she kept thinking such things were possible. But more so than that it was Zack's. He had promised that he would keep away from Cloud, from the beautiful blue that twinkled in his mako blue lakes. He was an idiot for making that promise, a promise that somewhere deep inside of himself he knew already that he would break.

What was with Cloud that made everything want him? Was it the smile? Or the kiss? Perhaps the innocent look in his eyes, which never could change? That would break his heart.

But still, he was going to need to buy a nice stick so that he could beat people away from the blonde. Really, it was beginning to get a little silly; everyone was falling in love with Cloud. The worst thing that could possibly happen now was if Barret or Aeris (Tifa was already gone and Yuffie was more keen to the idea of Cloud being a little toy to Zack) fell in love with him, too. Red had already stated that he didn't like things with two legs and Cait wasn't even real.

Tifa ousted Zack from his driving position and she refused, even after lunch, to let him back into the driver's seat. It didn't help that Cloud had climbed into the passenger seat, giving her more than enough reason to want to continue driving. Or, at least sitting in the front seat with the blonde next to her. He thought about kicking Cloud from the seat and telling Aeris to sit up there to keep Tifa company. If he was mean, like he supposed that he should have been, he would have told Yuffie to go up there. But every time he suggested a change of seating Tifa would turn up the radio a little louder.

After the sixth or so time and the fourth stop into a different town, he pulled out a cherry turnover, taking a savage bite out of it. Like an animal feast on its prey, he pretended for a moment, ignoring the guilt in his stomach, that the fruity pastry was named Tifa. It didn't make it taste any better, but it managed to make his mind feel a little more at ease about the entire situation.

He knew it was childish and stupid, but it did not stop the emotions from swelling up within himself. The anger made him think about when he was younger and the people of his village said things about one of his friends. It didn't do more than irritate the boy, but it would always make Zack's head want to explode like a fizzing bomb. He didn't exactly have a right, as it wasn't himself, but there was enough there to make him doubt anything he ever said.

"Can I have one of those?" Cloud asked.

Zack looked down at the think and plucked out the largest one, seeping with cherries from the sides. "Sure, kiddo. You don't really even have to ask, y'know."

"Oh, oh, oh! Can I have one? Can I? Can I?" Yuffie, who sat next to Zack with her feet up in his personal bubble, squealed into his ear. His head buzzed with her loud, piercing voice. "I"ll even give some to Cait!" She lifted up the cat and with two of her fingers shoved the mechanical jaws open.

"Mmmf—what're ya doing to me, missy!?" Cait exclaimed, biting Yuffie's fingers with his metal teeth.

"_Owwww!_" the girl screeched, grabbing the mechanical cat with her other arm and flinging it into the back seat. She whimpered over her puncture wounds, shoving her pained and bloody flesh into her mouth.

"Uh, yeah. Here." He handed the pastry over, but because she couldn't take it, he placed it down on the small expansion of the middle seat which didn't have her legs on it. Ignoring the whimpering still coming from Yuffie, he turned around in his seat. Red, who was sitting in the back in the place where Aeris' feet were supposed to be. "You want one, too?"

Red glanced up from his one good eye. "No, thank you. The idea of such a sweet thing does not sound too flattering."

"Well," Zack looked away from Red's amber eye to Aeris, then Barret. "You guy's want one? We've got a few minutes before Tifa gets back in here. She's checking out a couple of things. I guess we must have raised a couple of materia. She said something about going to deliver it. While we aren't exactly poor as shit anymore, that still doesn't mean that we don't need mako to fill the tank."

Aeris shook her head and Red did the same. Barret, however, narrowed his eyes and stared at Zack. "Why she so happy anyway? We's headin' toward her burned down town, no offense, Cloud."

Zack turned to see the blonde nibbling on the edge of his food. His voice was low and Zack didn't know whether it was only him who heard it or not. "Don't bother."

Zack bit the inside of his cheek. How was he going to be able to tell them... able to tell Cloudy that his town was still very much there, even after he watched it burn to the ground? Tell Tifa about how her home was still erect, and there were people who lived in Cloud's home who weren't his family? The destroyed Gongaga made him cry with anger and fear and he was broken about it. He knew he was, and yet no matter how much Zack thought about Cloud he couldn't imagine the blonde crying. But he would, Zack was sure. Or he would shake violently. Either action would hurt the raven-haired man. He didn't want to see his... boyfriend? Soon-to-be-lover? Mutually attracted friend? Hurt... that was the very last thing that he wanted. No, Cloud wouldn't be hurt. Couldn't be.

"Uh, Cloud," Zack started, but Tifa knocked on the window, waving her hand. There were dozens of bills with her. She had a smile on her face.

"We made quite a bit, guys!" Tifa said once the door was open. "From your time in Cosmo Canyon, wherever you were, you managed to level up a few of the materia. We have enough to practically buy a new house, haha." She looked at Cloud when she said this, like an untold promise.

"New house? I guess we did not notice how much magic we used on our last journey." Aeris smiled to Tifa and then to Cloud. "There was a little preoccupation with us at that time, after all." Her green eyes drifted to Zack and she let out a sad laugh. "Isn't that right, Zackary?"

Zack knew that she wasn't trying to expose them, but all the same he let out a little gust of air. While it was silly, because Aeris understood their need for secrecy, the fear of what the others would think, the belief that things would change so drastically that they would have to break the party up, that some would rather travel alone to kill Sephiroth than a with a pair of... lovers. It would creep them out. Aeris would stay, maybe Red, too. Yuffie may choose to tag along, but Zack imagined that after a short while she'd run off to do something more exciting. Cait was a machine, but it seemed to like Aeris, so that may stay. But Tifa and Barret would go off, leaving them alone. And Aeris would probably feel the call of the Planet and head off to her own fate. Red may grow weary of traveling the Planet for no particular reason and go back to his home in the canyons.

"Yep. Now, I guess it'd be good to get heading off. It's going to get dark soon, I guess. We want to make good time. Get to Ni—the mountain before night. It's been dangerous for people to travel at night, it seems. Someone was robbing everyone blind while they slept. If I didn't know that Yuffie is here with us," Zack said, leaning forward to pinch the girl's cheeks with his crumb-covered hand, "then I'd think it was her. But, it'd be better if we just got going."

Tifa turned the car on, shoving the gil notes to Cloud. "Sort them out, Cloud... please." She smiled a large, toothy smile as she stomped her foot on the gas, sending the car whirring forward, toward the highway that Zack knew would lead to Nibelheim.

"The people were tight-lipped with me when I mentioned that I was heading in the direction of where... were our old town was." The fighter was talking more to Cloud than to the others. "The woman behind the counter of the bank even gave me a look like I was out of my mind. They're still probably a little shook up by what happened there..."

Zack tapped his foot against the door. _I should tell them that Nibelheim isn't as burned down as they think it is. That it's still in one piece, that people are living there and don't know what happened. They pretend to not know what happened, but I can't forget the look in some of their eyes. They were SOLDIERs once, some of them. The glowing irises painted me a story of a cover up. It stunk like a cover up, too. That was the way Shinra did things; if something didn't go their way they blew it up, burned it down, or rebuilt it and pretended that nothing ever happened. _

_  
Could I do that to Cloud? _

Zack drifted off to sleep still holding his half-eaten turnover.

* * *

**There are two options and neither will benefit you. **

_Yeah, I know that. But I don't want to hurt Cloudy. _

**You love him; while it is good that you've finally come to your senses—**

_Hey, I never lost my senses! I was just... so confused about everything. Reno had been the only man I had ever been attracted to, and Cloud was... off limits. _

**Quit cutting me off. I must ask you, do you remember anything else? Is that why you came around and admitted everything to yourself? Or is it that you have seen it, yet? The Hero, the Prisoner, the Traveler? **

_What are you talking about? I don't know what you're talking about and you're supposed to be me! I should get what you're talking about—it's like I'm an idiot inside of my own brain. You're my other part and you don't talk about things I don't understand! _

**If you so choose. **

_W—wait! Don't go quiet on me yet! I still need to know what you're talking about... _

**You'll find out soon enough. But, if it is any consolation, I have made the decision for you.**

_Huh? What're you going on about? What decision? _

**You will find out soon enough. Protect him. **

* * *

Zack woke to Cloud's voice. He moved his head from side to side, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Whut?"

"Nibelheim... but I... we... it burned... didn't it?... Could this be... a dream?" Zack looked up to Cloud, whose face had gone deathly pale. The blonde continued, "It... no. This isn't a dream."

"It's a nightmare," Tifa whispered.

* * *

**I know, I know. It took wayyyyyy too long and trust me, I wanted to hit myself a few times. Even though this was a little fillerish a lot of important stuff happened. I figured it would be best to take it a bit easy with the plot and this chapter, as we just got out of a big chunk of plot. And before I forget, I will get to those reviews! Really, they mean a lot to me. It's difficult to understand why so many of you love this story, but I will continue on! I think I'm out of the funk I was in earlier, so it should get better. Now...**

**Please Review! **


	63. Reunion

Author Notes: Not forever. See?

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Sixty Two: Reunion

Cloud fell into something close to what Zack and Shinra called 'the blank fever'. His eyes stared at everything dully, the green in his pupils stretching out in all directions. There was nothing in them, nothing at all. Just the blank stare of a broken boy, one that Zack didn't know how to fix.

After a short, yet heated debate where Tifa threatened to punch Barret in the face if he did not shut up, the group grabbed their belongings from the back of the van, moving them inside of the inn.

Zack had only been there for a little while, and yet everything was in place. The picture on the mantle, the bed's positioning—there was even the same pot of flowers in the upstairs bedroom. Yet, he could see the differences as well. The bad that creaked didn't do so anymore, the area where the man used to hide his money was never gouged into the wall, the table didn't rock back and forth if you put something on one side and not the other. It was the little things, like the window that was only able to open up a creak, that made it all right. But now it was too clean, too sterile.

Too perfect.

They were in the room, no one talking. The only sound was an old radio that was playing a cassette tape from a time before Zack was even born. But that was only background music, because the breathing of his comrades was where his focus was appointed to. Cloud laying on the bed next to him, Tifa next to him. They weren't doing anything but Zack wanted to grab Cloud in a fit of jealousy every time she let her hand ghost his. They were different, too. Cloud was perfect in a sense that there was no emotion in him. He was a broken doll.

Zack had left the room after only a few odd minutes. Too uncomfortable for him. Too uncomfortable for Barret, too.

"Yo," the older man said. There was a cigarette hanging from his dry lips. He stood near the door of the inn, his feet grinding into the ground below, dusty and reeking of mako.

"I didn't know you smoked."

Barret removed it from his mouth, blowing out a few tendrils. He lifted the cigarette to Zack, who shrugged and took it. It felt weird between his fingers, Zack noted. "I ain't done it for a long time. When we wuz miners, me an' Dyne," Barret said, a small smile of memory ghosting over, "we used ta smoke two packs a day, four or five at a time when we got breaks. Real bad for us, y'know. Once da mine closed down lots o' the stress went wit' it. We didn't smoke that much anymore. Plus, everythin' was getting' contaminated by the mako. My wife hated that it ruined some o' her favorite cook books and those cheesy Gongaga Romances. Had me runnin' 'round to the Post for them things. Her and Dyne's wife..."

Zack took a puff; the taste of Mako was there, but Zack wasn't sure if it was from the mako in his body or the mako surrounding Nibelheim. "Those damn books..." Zack trailed off. "My own ma had a collection of them. Some of the strangest love stories—you wouldn't think a far-out, back-water town would have a writer who wrote _that_ kinda stuff."

"'S kinda like you an' that Turk."

Zack took a step back, the cigarette hanging from his lips in shock. "Huh? What're you going on about?" Zack held his hand up in a peace gesture. "I think you've got the wrong idea 'bout me, Barret."

"I know whut I'm talkin' about. You and the red rat had a 'thing' way back when. I ain't dumb—jus' cuz I speak like a miner ain't mean that I got a brain like a miner. I don't look like an intelligent guy, but I got enough brains up there to know what's goin' on with the planet. I know what's goin' on with you, too."

Zack sighed and crushed the cigarette below his boot. The tip went out with a sizzle—there was water on the ground. "It was a long time ago. I...oh, Gaia. It was a bad choice and all that, but it isn't like I can go back and change it all. We were friends. He's the reason me and Cloudy—uh, Cloud—are still alive. You didn't know that, did you?"

"I 'member in the Shinra HQ you said somethin' about a girl. She got killed 'cuz she helped you, right? Then why are the Turk's still 'round if they helped you escape? An' from what, anyways?"

The ex-SOLDIER looked at Barret before sliding down the wall to sit on the ground. There was a few wet patches, but they didn't bother him. The cool air and the water felt strangely cool on him. "Cissnei was a good girl—I dated her for a while. I guess you could call me a ladies man. Was always flirting, sometimes even with guys. It was just something to do. But then I started dating Aeris, and I thought that I would stop. It got worse, actually. I was a prick—I took on two Turks that I guess you could say I was in love with.

"Cissnei was a pretty red head girl who was just a little younger than I was. She liked me and I liked her, and because she was a Turk she was always around. When I got locked in the basement of the Shinra mansion," Zack said, jerking his head in the direction of the place, "she thought I was dead. Later, when she was tracking after me in the orders of Tseng, she let me and Cloud go. They ordered her execution because of it. She's dead..."

Zack coughed in attempt to cover the strangled sound that echoed from inside of him. "Reno was... Reno was a lot different. He wasn't some creep that you were told about in Rio; I can't see him as ever doing something like fucking a bunch of kids just to get them to join Shinra. That wasn't the way he worked. He.. we... it was different between us, nothing I ever had before. I... I don't think you wanna hear this." He stopped and looked up to Barret, who shrugged.

"You the leader—I think you need ta tell someone what the fuck's goin' on. Might not be me, but it best ta be someone."

The ebony-haired man nodded before blowing a few strands of hair from his face. "We were close. I would even say that he was my best friend, if you want the truth. He understood me in ways that no one else seemed to—I could rant and rave and complain to him and he would do nothing but snicker at me, wave a cigarette in my face and tell me to shut the fuck up.

"We met because I left home one night to go take a look at the Reactor being built in my area. He was there and I talked to him. I think he was recruiting, because there were a lot of boys who left their villages around that time. It was probably around the time that Jamie left his house. I can't tell you for sure if that's true or not, though. I have some vague memories, but none of them have anything to do with Reno's cousin. Personally, I think almost all of the story that guy told us was bull shit.

"But I joined, and I quickly rose in rank. There was a Lieutenant that picked me almost automatically to be his student and I took a look at his own sexuality. He was strong, fearsome, and so very powerful, yet he had a male lover who was just as a strong. The military has a lot of homosexuality going on, if you want to know. Woman can't be in SOLDIER—their chromosomes don't take well to the mako or the other shit they inject into SOLDIER bodies. And because what few Turk females exist and how most secretaries ignore you unless you're a First Class, you get to experiment with guys.

"Reno was the only guy I've ever been with..." _Liar. I've got Cloudy now, too. And Cloudy's just... Cloudy's more than sex or sexuality or experimentation. _"In that way."

Barret stomped his boot on the ground. "You play 'round with your rat-Turk once you got out of this shit-hole?"

Zack shook his head. "Naw, I haven't. That would be betraying you guys 'cuz he's a Shinra worker. More than that, he's the Second-in-Command. That's like screwing around with the Vice President of the Company. He's made it clear, well, kinda, that he wanted to catch us. Well, at least hurt us. He's just getting so damn confusing that I don't know whether what he's doing is a game or not. The letting us go, the tricks, the flirting and threatening, him shooting me..."

"I don't know 'bout you, but it don't seem like he's doin' anything but followin' us around wit' his tail 'tween his legs, unless it's got to do with Cloud. Ain't done anything ta really hurt us except that. But neither has the other Turks. It's almost like..."

"They want Cloud." Zack stood, pushing his hands into his pockets. "I don't know why they want Cloud. It's like they think we're mosquitoes, but Cloud's the nest. Does that make any sense to you? "

"They want him for sumthin' not good, I can tell you that much. It's not that hard ta figure out." Barret pat Zack's shoulder. "You can't do nothin' but wait and wait. There's gunna be somethin' goin' down soon, I think. Those fuckin' Shinra scum are up ta something, I just wish I knew what they were doing. Could make everything a bit easier for us. Everyone's too stressed the shi' out. This whole 'Nibelheim's all built back up' is getting' ta everyone."

Zack scratched the corner of his eye. "Eh, I get that."

"An' you knew somethin' about it before we got here."

"What do you mean by that?" Zack twisted to look at Barret. "I don't have a clue where you get that idea, but—"

"You're the leader, but that don't mean that I trust you. You lyin' about a lot of things. You jus' hiding and hiding an' aren't given us the right reasons. You might not know, but you're doin' it, and I just wanna tell you that you need to get your shit together. You da leader and if you go nuts 'cuz you're hiding, you're gunna fuck us all up."

Hanging his head down, Zack nodded. "I hear ya, I hear ya."

"No, I don't think ya do. You're a spiky-head, but that don't mean you ain't got any smarts up there in that head of yours."

"I thought that it was just the hair."

"Quit bein' a smart ass an' listen. I got one last thing ta tell ya."

Zack straightened his back. "What?"

"I don't want you hurtin' Tifa."

_What is with everyone thinking that I'm going to hurt Tifa? Am I that much of an asshole that I'd purposely hurt her just for the shits and giggles? I wasn't aware that I was a jerk... well, more than I always was. I don't mean to do it, but she can't think that... _

"I made her a promise I just can't keep. I hope that one day she'll forgive me for it."

Zack thought that Barret knew what he was talking about, because the man just looked down at his battle-worn boots. "Yeah, maybe."

* * *

There was rain, which didn't surprise Zack as much as he had expected. The little village at the base of the mountains reeked of mako rain even five years before. Now, however, it was worse. There was a taint of death in the air, old death. Something was here, and something was screaming.

"It's coming from the Shinra Mansion," Cloud said. He was wearing a sweater over his clothes, his lips a bluish color. It was the first thing that Zack had heard the blonde say since they got to Nibelheim.

"You sick?" Yuffie said. "Your lips are all blue and it's totally not a good shade on you. Aeris, Zack? Someone? I think we should put Cloud to bed or something."

Zack looked at Cloud, whose face and eyes were in fact strange looking. There was a color of a corpse in him. "Cloud, are you all right?" He raised his hand to touch Cloud's face, to cup his cheek, but instead ruffled a limp spike. Cloud's spikes were never limp. "You don't look so good."

"Oh my goodness!" Aeris drew Zack's gaze from Cloud with her exclamation. "He looks dreadful. Yuffie, go get a potion. We're going to need it."

"'M fine," Cloud said, struggling to get away from Zack. He batted his hand at the older of the two, but his feeble smack did nothing. "I just... why? _Why_?"

Yuffie came back a few minutes later with a blue potion, unscrewing the cap with her teeth before handing it over to Aeris. Zack lightly grabbed Cloud's arms, holding them down. "It's not going to kill you. It's just a potion, Cloudy. What's wrong with you?" His last sentence was a whisper.

"It's just... a lot to deal with. I'm fine, really. But... it's all the same Zack." Cloud threw his head back. "You can see that, right? My house is right over there--" Cloud pointed out of the bedroom window to where a house was, a little garden in front. The darkness of the night and the coming storm made it easier for Zack to see into the house, where there was a woman scuttling around, her hair tied up in a tight bun, face strict. She seemed like she would be a mean mother—a mean mother with a strict face and a tight bun wasn't Kysen. She didn't like to keep her hair up, and she was always smiling. Cloud's mother was nice.

"This place is just a cover up. Please, Cloudy," Zack pouted, "just drink the potion. You're scaring me. You're scaring us."

Cloud blinked. "I need to go to the Shinra Mansion. I'll drink it only if you agree to go with me."

Zack scoffed. "Like we'd let you go. Now, bottoms up!" Zack turned to Aeris, who was slowly stepping forward. "She's not going to have to feed it to you, right?"

"If you're asking if I'm going to spaz out and drop it, or if I'll spit it out, I won't do either. I don't need it. Just hand the bottle to me."

The black-haired man hesitantly let go of Cloud's wrists, letting the blonde take the potion from Aeris, who smiled. She was always so damn calm when it came to everything.

Cloud looked down the neck of the bottle, crinkling his face before lifting it to his lips, his eyes conveying the message '_don't expect a kiss from me for a long time_', which caused Zack to smile. Cloud and his moods were like a baby chocobo that wasn't getting their way. Still a bit dangerous, especially when he had long hair. "I want to leave, tonight. We get to the Mansion and then we start over the mountain immediately."

"We need to sleep, Cloud," Aeris said soothingly. She pat his hand as he swallowed a mouthful of the potion. "I think that it would be best if we leave tomorrow morning. We booked the hotel for the night, anyway. It would be a waste to spend money on a place to sleep and then run off." Aeris smiled.

"I guess so. But we will leave immediately tomorrow. But tonight, we should check out the Manison. There's something... there's something there. I can feel it in my marrow. And no, Zack, I'm not going insane. It's just there's this feeling that won't go away. I need to go down the stairs."

Zack gulped. Cloud knew of what happened down in the basement. Even if he couldn't remember the needles and the terror, though his body still subconsciously was aware of it, he didn't want Cloud to remember. Cloud would hurt so much that it wouldn't even be fair. And Zack wouldn't be able to tell the blonde that everything was going to be all right, because with those memories nothing would be okay. Nothing would be okay. That was the way Shinra worked—he would be eternally miserable. So much more pliable if broken

"Okay—" Zack was cut off by Yuffie, who made a screeching noise, pointing her finger to the door. "OhmyLeviathan! What the fuck is it!?"

Red, who had been casually laying at the foot of the bed in the back was growling at something. Zack blinked before realizing that it was a hand that was coming from under the bed, reaching out, pale fingers grasping for something. It was moaning, and he was surprised that he hadn't noticed or felt whatever it was in the room—there was a smell of decomposition and death clinging to the black fabric of its cloak.

"What is that?" Aeris took a step back, grabbing Cloud's arm. The blonde followed her; Zack saw that Cloud was reaching for Zack's sword. Nodding, Zack moved his hand to the space between them to take hold of the weapon. When the hilt was secure in his hand, Zack took a step forward.

"Aeris, go downstairs. Bring Yuffie with you and get Barret. Tell him that he needs to get rope. Yeah, rope." Zack said steadily. "Hand Cloud your status materia. If we need to bind it in some way I can't see anything else that'll work but slow or stop. C'mon, quick."

Her bangle shook as she slipped the materia from its casing, handing it over to Cloud who didn't bother to slip it into his bangle, but used his fingers as a prison, cradling it with his flesh. Aeris then whispered something and Yuffie followed, her feet surprisingly quiet and quick across the floorboards. One good thing about the false building was that the floor no longer squeaked.

"I cannot sense if it is human or monster, Zack. But, its hand is human, but there is a strange tattoo on its skin. It's a four."

Cloud shuddered. "A four, you say?"

"None of that right now, Cloudy. We've got bigger things to worry about. Aim a sleep spell at it, see if that works. It'll be easier to—" the thing screeched something unintelligible and scratched its fingernails into the floor. Zack smelled sawdust and flesh. "Pull it out," he finished.

"Red, back up a little. I don't want to hit you." Cloud was right. He wasn't looking too hot and it wouldn't be good for the beast to be struck by a stray surge from the spell.

"I was planning on doing so before you inquired. Barret's coming." Red growled when the hand below the bed moved again, but whatever it was did nothing but continue to gouge the floorboards. But if the thing lunged during a spell...

Cloud's hands were green, think smoke billowing from his hands in a straight line toward the thing. It wailed something as the spell took hold. It shook for a brief moment, hands wavering. Then, just as Barret swung the door open, the thing's body fell down with a thunk.

"Whut the fuck is that?" Barret asked, holding the wrist of his gunarm, the safety off. It was directed at the bed. "That ain't no human, that's for sure. And it ain't gunna be livin' much longer if I got any say in it."

Red, who was the closest to the thing, sniffed experimentally at the cloak. "I do not believe that the spell is as strong as it would be on a monster, but it is unconscious. Would you like me to...?" Red showed his fangs, his paw tapping against the cloak. "I could do it, though I would prefer not having to put my mouth anywhere near the... individual."

Zack waved his hand. "Don't touch it, Red. Just back away; Barret, you stand behind me. If the thing so much as blinks shoot at where its feet would be. I don't wanna kill it, but maybe a little bit of pain'll keep it occupied. Or it can turn around and eat me, but I like the first option better."

"I want to..." Cloud lowered his hand, the materia falling to the floor with a hollow thunk. "It wants me, not you. I think I can hear it talking... can't you, Zack? Red?"

"I can't hear a thing, Cloudy. But I can tell you that I don't wanna hear that thing grab hold of your head, neh? Just—"

"I'm not weak, Zack."

Sighing and turning to Red, who, if human, would have been shrugging his shoulders or maybe crossing his arms over his chest, Zack clamped his lips down. The cloaked figure with the four tattooed on its hand did nothing for Zack's choice; it just laid there, exactly where it had fallen asleep. He didn't want to look at Barret because that would be a signal, not one that he wanted to show to anyone. He didn't want Cloud near the thing—the closest he wanted Cloud was four hundred miles out of Nibelheim, somewhere where there was eternal winter. Icicle Inn, perhaps.

But he couldn't do that—as much as Zack didn't want to admit it, the experiments that the sick fucker did on Cloud changed him. While he still probably wanted to go to Icicle Inn to snowboard, or make snow men, or whatever it was that attracted Cloud to such a far out place, he couldn't send him off. Cloud was strong—deadly, fierce, so painfully beautiful that it made the ex-SOLDIER want to cry.

Cloud had changed over the past few months. When he had woken from his catatonic state, he was still innocent Cloud, but as the trip continued, as the towns passed by, as people were driven apart and the grunts died by Avalanche's hands, Cloud's innocence was tarnished. Tainted. He never wanted to kill, thought that it was pointless and cruel, but did it when he needed to. But now, something was different. Cloud didn't care as much as he used to.

He wasn't going to lie to himself—Zack still cared deeply about the boy, but there was just something missing. As their love seemed to flourish, another bit of innocence broke off. As Cloud became more physically strong, his face became a mask. All he wanted now was to put holes in the plastic, but at the same time he wanted to paint it with Cloud's essence.

"You're one of the strongest people here, Cloudy. I know that. It's just strange." _He's changed so much, and as mushy as it sounds and I know that he'd hit me with something, probably his fist, I don't want him to be so strong. I want his to be a little dependent on me. _

Cloud's lips were slowly gaining their original color back and he didn't look quite as different now. But there was still his eyes that glowed with something unlike Cloud. He sneered and passed Zack. "I'm fine, Fair. Really, you worry about silly and trivial things that have no meaning. I'll pull it out myself." The blonde was on his knees, hands curled firmly around the thing's arm. He tugged and there was a sound of something tearing. "Damn thing's stuck."

Giving one large pull, leaning far back to yank on the arm, the thing came loose, its head and upper torso now visible. "Help me get it all the way out," he grunted, looking over his shoulder, ignoring the cloaked figure.

"Look out!" Zack screamed as he lunged forward. The thing under the cloak wasn't asleep; it was lunging at Cloud's throat, his other hand holding a jagged and sharp broken bottle. The potion's color reflected off of the glass surface, the colors thrown in a prism of light. It was going to kill Cloud—Zack's hands would be coated with his blood. Too close, how stupid was he to let Cloud go to the thing without making sure? How stupid!

And Cloud... oh, Gaia, he looked so surprised, and Zack felt his face drain. There wasn't...

_Crack_.

The sound echoed against the too-perfect walls and the being, the cloak riding up to show the pallid face of a young girl, a teenager at most. Her mako green eyes shone with the brilliance of death and a small trickle of spit and blood ran down her cheek. She was crazed and dazed, and a thin film began to cloud over her eyes, head twisted at an odd angle. The glass in her hand fell to the floor, shattering further into smaller shards.

"R...re...reunion," she managed to gurgle, eyes slipping closed. "Mmmm...ansi...on."

The four shined in the light.

And Zack could see the shimmer of Cloud's eyes.

* * *

Cloud refused to sleep in the inn. After taking care of the body (which was them waiting until the owners of the inn fell asleep and they could carry the body out and burn it a few miles away), Cloud cramped himself into the car, his head resting on the window.

"I won't go back in there. We need to go to the Shinra Mansion."

Zack slammed his fists against the wheel. "We _don't _need to go back there, Cloud! Can't you understand why we can't? You're already—"

"What, Zack? Emotionally unstable? Insane? Did you not just see what I did!?" Cloud banged his head against the window. Zack expected the glass to crack and fall out against the ground, but it stayed in place, defying him. Mocking him. "I killed a girl, a little girl. She couldn't have been older than m—Yuffie."

"You. She wasn't older than you, Cloud." Zack turned away, slipping the keys from the van's engine. "She wasn't whoever she once was, Cloud. You could see that in her eyes, on her hand. She wasn't herself for a long time."

Cloud scoffed. "I belong in limbo."

_Huh? Limbo... what is that? And Cloudy doesn't belong anywhere..._

"There's something, Zack. I snapped her neck—"

"She was going to kill you, Cloudy!" Zack exploded. "Can't you understand that your life..."

"Don't you dare say it, Zackary. Don't." Cloud lifted his face from the cold glass. There was a long red stretch of skin from his chin to his eye. "My life is not more important than others."

Zack kicked his seat, smashing the brakes down in the process. The entire car moved with his movements, and with too much exertion the van would tilt off of the side. "You don't understand how important, do you?" He chuckled bitterly, wiping his face with his hand. There was wetness there. "Chocobo-head, you're too important to this world. She was young, yeah, but she was a monster! Don't cry about a monster..."

"Then don't attempt to cry about me."

Zack sighed, rubbed at his eyes, and blinked blearily. The blonde next to him stayed curled in his position, eyes downcast. "I didn't mean that, kiddo. You know that I lo...care about you. What you're doing isn't right. You're too—"

"She wanted us to go to the mansion." Cloud turned, his blue eyes wide. "I want to go to the mansion. There's something there. Something to do with a reunion. I say we get the others and go. I won't be going back up there—you can get them yourself. I... I have something else I need to do, first." Cloud took a deep breath in. "I... we need to do this. I don't want to ever come back here. I hope the place will burn down the moment we step away, but I guess you can only get your hometown burned down once in a lifetime. I guess I won the lottery," Cloud said, his words acerbic. There was a glitter in his eyes; unpleasant. Not as bad as when they were upstairs, where the girl's neck snapped under his fingers, but bad enough.

"We'll go... be ready in a few minutes." Zack fumbled with the car door as Cloud swiftly exited on the other side, making a bee line away from the town square and toward the residential area. His back was turned, the clouds looming overhead, blocking whatever moonlight that could cover the small town. His house... of course he would go home to where his mother had died. He would knock on the wooden door, searching for the marks of his childhood. A shovel against that wall, a plant that was there gone, a slash in the wooden door that once represented his growth, no matter how stunted it was; he would look for these things up close. The strict-looking woman would slam the door in his face if he said anything. There would be clear, cool mountain rain, tinged with the Planet's lifeblood, sliding down his cheeks. He wouldn't cry, because Cloud didn't like crying. He would just let it build and build and build, until it finally exploded in a mess.

The others were waiting up, sitting upstairs. It was well-past midnight, and though there was exhaustion in their faces, they listened intently. Even if Yuffie was leaning on Cait's Mog, and Red had his head resting on his paws.

"We need sleep," Tifa answered, tiredness dripping from her voice, a faucet that wouldn't close. "None of us have slept, and there is too much going on."

"Cloud needs us, and he'll need us more when he gets back from his house."

Tifa, who had been lying on one of the beds, jerked up. "You let him go there? Alone?" All the color that was in her face drained away. Her eyes, gaunt with sleep-deprivation, stared at him with wide eyes.

Something slammed from across the way, and Zack's gaze went automatically to the window. So did a lot of others, he noticed. The garden, the woman in the window, her serious face. A door slamming shut. A scream of a word. Pounding feet.

"Cloud!" Zack yelled once he threw the window open, his voice echoing in the cold night. The blonde a few hundred feet away said nothing, but stumbled away, down the path toward the mountains. "He's going to the Shinra Mansion!"

"But why'd he go to that crummy place?" Yuffie was asking someone, but Zack couldn't sense who. A blur.

"Sephiroth. He said 'Sephiroth'."

* * *

**Bad place to end, but I want to keep you on an edge. I'm sorry for stopping before Vincent and Sephiroth, but this was so difficult to write. I know I'm constantly saying that, and it's really stupid, but I still want you to know-- _I will not stop writing this story. _Even if I die, there is someone who knows enough about the story to finish it. But I don't think I'll be dying any time soon. As for your reviews, I will eventually be getting back to them once things get a little less hectic. Until then, let me tell you how thankful and proud I am to have you readers. Even if you don't review, I know that you are reading and it gives me strength. There should be another update with the anticipated chapter of Tenacity. Actually, it should go up on the first birthday of Tenacity. So look out for that!**

**Also, there is a new poll up on my page. It would really, really help me if you could all answer it for me. I've been worrying about some stuff, and I need to make sure I'm not going over the top. **

**Please Review!**


	64. Who Are You?

Author Notes: This is the first year anniversary of Tenacity! Today, one year ago, I sat in my bedroom ill with a stomach condition and bored to bloody **death**. Nothing on tv, couldn't go to school, couldn't sleep or read anymore because I thought that my eyes would fall out of my head. And so, I clicked on a link that lead me to a picture drawn by Lady Valtaya. And then the idea popped into my head, but did not fully form until I saw the word—so random it must have been fate. Tenacity was born on that moment from my childish desire to pretend like everything was all right.

While I'm not going to say that the road has been easy or smooth sailing (spelling errors? Piles of homework I skipped to write? Being plagiarized? Etc.), but when I think about it, I feel empowered. Sure, it sounds a bit foolish, but I have put my heart out into this, and it's so beautiful to imagine all of you at your computers, reading this in anticipation for the next chapter. And to think—last year around this time, I was sitting in my chair with nothing to do. Now, I am surrounded and supported by some of the greatest people and writers that are on this site, and I couldn't possibly thank a wandering brain, a mouse click and a single word in the dictionary enough.

Now that I've finished that bit of a rant, I think it's time to get to the story!

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Sixty Three: Who Are You?

There were monsters in the Shinra Mansion, some that looked down-right funny, on certain terms. A merman hanging from a hook, a set of weights, and pumpkins who spat out poison. At first glance, Zack knew that people would think of a wandering freakshow, just a place with oddities. Nothing too scary or deadly—after all, how much suffering could a hooked merman cause? But, if that person would go into the basement, they would see another world, a horror film revisited with every second that passed. And there was no way of turning the movie off; the only thing Zack could do to keep himself from going insane was to repeat it.

It could have been worse, he told himself, as Tifa followed behind him, Red behind her. But, he couldn't kid himself any more than Cloud could kid him—he was a bad liar, at times. The entire situation was a fucking mess-up, and there wasn't anything that Zack knew that would be able to fix it. Like a festering wound, it would continue to rot. The smell would be bad enough.

Zack imagined a thousand corny and cheesy things he could have told Cloud, something other than what he actually said. Fuck, kissing Cloud right then and there may have done something at least for a moment, a moment that Zack would have used to his advantage. But, it was too late to think of what could have happened, and now he had to think of what _did._

And the first thing on the list had been marching his ass straight into the Shinra Mansion without so much as a prayer to the Goddess to keep the monsters from getting Cloud. That wouldn't work—he could only depend on himself and those who were with him. He couldn't even trust Cloud, because when that happened, he cold see where it went.

Cloud being somewhere in the Mansion was a prime example.

"This place is big," Yuffie whispered, though Zack didn't know why. It wasn't like she was stealthy, unless it had something to do with robbing someone blind. "Where do we start?"

"The basement." Zack's voice was only a bit louder, but it carried well in the monster-infested home. "The basement's stairs are upstairs, in one of the bedrooms. I know where it is; just follow me."

Red looked up at Zack, his amber eye bright in the darkness. The flash lights in their hands combined with the chandeliers left little light, but enough to allow them safe passage up the stairs, and, Zack noticed, the ability to see everything with a hazy shadow. "Will I be able to climb these stairs?" he asked, butting his nose against the ground. A long wet smudge was left in its wake.

"Uh." Zack huffed and rolled on the balls of his feet. Stretching his upper body a bit, Zack let his gaze go to Barret. "Well, I'd say we'll get to that when we get to it," he attempted to chuckle, "but we'll get to it a little too fast for me to think up any plans. So, I guess Barret'll carry you down? Unless you want to stay up here. Alone."

The random, shrieking noise burst through the mansion and the ex-SOLDIER quickly turned away, boots clunking into the floor. His hands wavered over the hilt of his sword, ghosting the leather. There was a prickling icy feeling to the air and he attempted to ignore the chill. It would only get worse as time continued on.

Red's eye bore holes into Zack's kneecaps. "I do not believe that will be necessary. But," Red trailed as he looked from side to side, "I smell something... not quite monster in here. The floorboards reek of a stench of human, but it isn't Cloud's. It doesn't seem to be Sephiroth's, either. I have only gotten one good scent of him, but this is not the same; it seems almost...distorted."

Tifa rubbed her hands over her arms, the chill of the rain and the mansion causing her to shiver. Her teeth chattered a little, and Zack resisted the urge to cast a heating spell. It would be dangerous, considering how old the Shinra Mansion was. Old things were more flammable, especially when made out of rotting wood. "I think that we should go, then. If Cloud's down there with Sephiroth then none of us can keep Cloud from going at his throat... alone. Even if he has his sword." Tifa's eyes shone, deep maroon shaded with fear and care. Not a weak woman, but too caring for her own good. Too big of a heart.

_And I keep taking everything she's ever loved. Or helped bring it around its destruction._

"I think that would be good." Aeris tapped her staff on the floor, her breath heavy with the cold. "But we should hurr—"

Another scream.

Zack finished. "Let's mosey, guys. Just follow me, okay? It's not too far. And Barret, get Red?" He turned on his heel before being able to hear a reply from the burly man, though he figured there would be little to no explicit language on Barret's part and no growling on Red's. "Let's just... not step on anything that'll bite our ankles off. And be careful on the stairs. They creek, and might just break and send you down. Try and scream a little if that happens so we know if you're still breathing."" Zack attempted a smile, but it came out more as a grimace.

They slowly ascended the stairs, the raven-haired man continuously looking over his shoulder to make sure that everyone was still there, that their shoes on the floorboards were not imaginary.

It surprised Zack of who was the most quiet. Yuffie had never been so quiet in her entire life, he was sure. It was almost impossible to think of the slinking figure, mouth closed, eyes drawn wide, feet barely touching the floor, was the same snot-nosed brat Zack had gotten so very used to. It was like seeing a baboon turn into a ninja. Which wasn't really that far from the truth, if he bothered to think about it. But he didn't want to.

The same little girl, who seemed to grow in years within a few moments, shook her head. "There's some strange materia somewhere in here. It smells."

"You can smell materia?" Red asked, but then snarled as Barret jostled him.

Zack stepped onto the first step, hearing it creak below his foot. "C'mon, it's up here."

While the idea of the kleptomaniac knowing how to smell materia was a scrap of knowledge that Zack stored away in his head, it wasn't important now. But the monster that was creeping down the stairs toward him was. And it had black SOLDIER material in its mouth.

* * *

The monster, in Zack's rage, was torn to shreds before he could so much as take a breath. There was green fluid on his sword and covering his cheek, but h wiped it off the best he could with the scrap of Cloud's shirt, before pocketing the material and taking off up the stairs. Quietness be damned—if Cloud was injured from the monster, which probably would have posed more of a fight had Zack not been so enraged, then he needed help now. No moments of waiting, of dallying up the stairs. He would gladly jump down the hole into the basement.

The others seemed to understand that situation as well, as they followed behind without attempting to either get into Zack's way or stop him from running. They had seen the cloth in Zack's hands, the cloth that had hung from the monster's teeth. No way would they say anything to an angry SOLDIER, even one out of practice. It would be, as Angeal once told Zack, a canary in the wolf's stomach.

Zack felt that there was something wrong in his stomach, but now it was growing, festering, boiling and burning his insides.

Zack punched the false wall, watching as it slid to the side, allowing the rickety passage available to be trodden. The darkness crept up, like a waiting monster from the black, and the scent of decaying corpses and wood greeted his senses. He gripped the brick and pulled back.

There was something on the walls. Blood.

"Holy, that reeks," Yuffie muttered from behind Zack. "And the smell's only going to get worse. Can't you feel it?"

That wasn't important... there was blood on his hands.

Without uttering so much as a cry, he bolted down the stairs, the wind whispering against his cheeks, the strange squealing under his feet nothing more than a sound. No danger to him. Only danger if he waited.

_I shouldn't have let him go. I should have known what would happen. I should have just grabbed him and hugged him. Or told him, in the beginning, what was happening. Maybe things would have been different—we could have boarded a ship in the Cosmo Canyon's ocean area. We could be in Rocket Town or Wutai or even the north pole, as long as it kept Cloud happy and safe and away from Sephiroth. Sephiroth isn't the man I once knew, the one that smiled in a discreet way, or had a bit of an addiction to anything that smelled like lavender soap. _

_Sephiroth was a hardass, yes, but he had a heart. Especially to the people he cared about. But the man in the basement, if Cloud is right, isn't that man. And it's my duty as a human being on this Planet to stop him. Not many have the power to do it, Cloud being the other. And I just let him leave, like I was sure that nothing could ever go wrong. What am I—a fool?_

Zack scoffed, feeling that the sound didn't feel right in his mouth. There was a fuzzy taste and a lukewarm feeling in the pit of his stomach. Those feelings and the overall package of 'Cloud's gone and he's obviously hurt' didn't make Zack warm an fuzzy inside. In fact, there was a desire to bang his fists against the wall like a petulant child. But, he was twenty three...

"Fuck," he whispered instead, his nails digging into the skin of his hands. There were too many rooms, down in the basement, and he couldn't remember which was the right one. The right way, the way to Sephiroth and Cloud.

The blood that had been the indication to Cloud having recently been down in the basement was gone; nothing but the dust and the mako stains left. There was a dim light through what seemed to be more of a cave than a basement—Hojo never did have any taste or the ability to decorate the place. Nothing but demolishing the place would make it beautiful, however. And the dry stains of brown, puddles that Zack remembered helping create, only made things so much worse, so much more dirty. But near one, there was something silver, shining in the light.

Cloud's sword, wrapped in its sheath, alone. Cold. Solitary.

"Cloud! Cloud!? _**CLOUD**_!?" Zack darted forward, collecting the weapon from the floor, sliding down so hard that he could feel the skin on his knees peeling off below the cloth.

The weapon was in perfect condition, except for the fact that its owner was nowhere to be found.

"There's a paper."

Zack couldn't tell who said it, from the panic going through him, but Yuffie leaned forward to grab it. "What does it say?" Zack said, resisting the urge to yank it from her hands. He was barely concealing the panic from every move. Had to stay calm. He knew he could not scream any more, that he couldn't cry like some bit of him wanted to do, or curl up into a ball and pretend like Cloud was there. That wasn't what SOLDIER instilled into him. Move when you can't move any further. Stay up and keep guard, no matter the time. Give everything and expect nothing.

"There's a key here, too! I don't know what it goes to..." Yuffie trailed off as she read the note. "Some guy's down here!"

"I know that," Zack snapped harshly. He did not like the look that the others were giving him, so he stood, Cloud's sword a weight pushing him into the ground. "We take care of that later, but not right now. Where could he have gone?"

Dawning crossed Zack's mind. _Sephiroth had been down here once, too. _

"They're in the library."

* * *

The walls seemed to curl in on themselves the further they went down, Zack noticed. It was like entering through a fun house, which gradually became smaller and smaller until they had to crawl through the doors. Luckily, it wasn't quite so small, but it was small enough to make Zack uncomfortable. Turning his head so far down, shin touching chest, would leave a nasty crick later on, but at least then they would have Cloud.

While the door to the laboratory was thick, made of solid steel, Zack managed to remove it from its hinges with one angry kick. The more that he could bring down of the place the easier that getting his fear out without being ousted by the others. While some had their suspicions, the last thing that Zack needed was to have Tifa be angry. They all needed to clear their heads if there was a battle.

"I want to end this now," Zack gritted between his teeth. "It's gone on for too long. Too many killed just because he's lost himself. Too many dead because of Hojo, too many tortured and given no choices. And now we have to do the same." There was bile in his mouth, he was sure. "He was... he was a good man, but that doesn't matter any more! He let himself free—and we have no other choice but to let this Planet free of him."

At first, Zack was unsure of what he would be able to say. It wasn't the same man that Zack had trusted. Not the same man who had allowed Zack to skip paperwork, undoubtedly having to do it on his own time. It wasn't the same man who had befriended Angeal and Genesis, cared for them as if they were an extension of himself, and did the same to Zack. He died in the Nibelheim Mako Reactor, when the name Jenova ripped through him.

"We're not all monsters," Zack said, so quietly that no one save Red, if he really tried, could have heard. But he didn't want to share it with them. It was something that could only mean anything to him and Cloud.

And loud was in there. He could almost hear their voices.

Stepping forward through the debris of the broken door, Zack lifted one hand to take his Buster Sword from his back. With the other he leaned Cloud's sword against the wall. His fingers curled and held on tight; he remembered Sephiroth's fights and what it did against him. One simple screw up, one movement that was wrong, one step miscalculated, and they would all die. The monster posing as Sephiroth would continue to wreck and destroy and pillage Gaia. And not even Shinra would be able to stop their prized general. A foolish hand imperfection would have Buster embedded in the ground of the Shinra mansion as a grave marker.

He did hear their voices, Zack noticed with a bit of shock. Cloud wouldn't be talking to Sephiroth calmly, or any other sort of emotion other than anger and hostility. Cloud would more likely be shoving a knife through the bastard's heart than eating crumpets and drinking tea, having a reasonable conversation with him.

"Who am I?"

Zack felt his body freeze. It was Cloud.

"She needs us. She needs us to hold her above the night, to be the eternal dawn. Mother has chosen her children, so very carefully, and we must fulfill her requirements. We will force the monsters from us, to recreate a world where our mother shines like the brightest of stars. She will never allow us or her children to feel pain. She needs us."

Zack heard his blonde instantly reply. "But... who am I? Who are you? Who is... mother? I—I don't want to hurt anymore." His voice, conceding, drifted down. "I want...to be..."

"Mother will save you. You need it, and yearn for it. And Mother loves you, and will nurture you from her bosom; the world will be ours to save from the worthless, disgusting humans. They were the reason Mother cannot walk this Planet. But, not for long. We will free her from the chains that bind her, like we were directed to."

"But... Mother? Who is Mother?"

"She was sentenced to an undeserving grave, where she rotted for thousands of years. She lay there for years, waiting for her beloved children to understand that she needs this world. We will save her—I have already begun the transformation. She will be whole and live upon us. We will quench our thirst with those who seek to destroy us and her. The Reunion will be the beginning—we assemble and pray for her. Kneel to the ground with dignity, and she will ascend from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar."

What was Cloud doing? Why was he standing before Sephiroth, staring blankly up at him, waiting.

"Remember the ship and what took place. You remember, don't you?"

"No!" Cloud fell to his knees, grabbing at his head. "Mothermothermothermothermother," he repeated, his hands yanking harshly at his blonde locks. "Reunionreunionreunionreunionreunionreunion!"

Not able to stomach a moment longer, Zack rushed forward, his sword ready. The others were beside him with their own weapons drawn. A final confrontation with a madman, a monster hidden in green-hate filled mako eyes.

But Zack blinked back shock when he saw that the face staring back at him wasn't Sephiroth's, but Cloud's. The trace of baby fat that hadn't the time to disappear before Cloud was experimented on. The blonde hair, disheveled. His birthmark on the side of his neck. A small scar almost unnoticeable near his ear. The piercing. The strawberry birthmark with longer hair on his scalp, that he loved to have touched. His lips, smooth and perfect that fit perfectly against his own.

But the pools of deep blue, touched with the poison of mako, were not the shining open skies that Zack wanted to see. This had happened today, too many time for Zack to even count. But what did it all mean? Was Cloud losing himself to the mako inside of him? Was his mind and body separating from one another? And why so green, so vicious, so... horrifying?

"Cloud, get away from him." Zack saw Sephiroth standing behind Cloud, hands clasped before him as if in prayer. His eyes were as vicious as his... lover.

"Let us follow mother, to the north. Let us continue forward." Sephiroth smiled, his eyes opening wide, reminded Zack of the moment his insanity began to seep into his mind. Far gone, but Zack could not forget.

"You touch him and I'll cut off your fingers." Zack hissed as he saw Sephiroth reaching forward to touch Cloud's face.

But the green in Cloud's eyes disappeared, and he fell to his knees. His blue eyes rolled into the back of his head and Cloud seemed to be unconscious.

The same thing, however, began to happen to Sephiroth. He stumbled, one of the first times Zack had ever seen it happen, the only other time having been in the Nibelheim Mako Reactor. His eyes flashed their old silver, and before they flashed back to green, Sephiroth was gone in a wisp of smoke. His sword clunked once against the floor before disappearing as well.

There was a moment where everything seemed to be disorientating. There were thousands of books that rocked in their shelves, materia flew from the back, pages scattered like snowflakes in a blizzard.

Zack watched, unable to do anything whatsoever, as Aeris ran forward, dropped to her knees, and put her hands on Cloud's shoulders, pulling him close. There was a green healing wind around her, thoughit couldn't be said that it was that that threw her hair into disarray. There was grim determination on her face.

Until Cloud's eyes shot back open, as green as Sephiroth's, and Aeris began to scream.

* * *

Aeris said and repeated almost a hundred times that no, Cloud hadn't hurt her. Since there were no marks on her skin, no one could fight with her, as only she could feel whatever had happened.

But everyone had her her scream.

Cloud, who seemed to wake from whatever had happened, didn't remember anything but running down into the basement after finding a key wrapped around the banister. He couldn't tell where it came from, or what it opened, but Zack seemed to know.

"All I remember is walking down the stairs and then you." Cloud refused to take any potions or allow anyone to run a scan over him. "I'm not hurt. I don't know what was happening... but I'm not dangerous."

"You can't remember anything though?" Yuffie asked, crossing her legs underneath her. They were all situated in the library, still surrounded by the mess of papers and books (Yuffie had cleaned house on materia and had _willingly _given a Summons materia, Odin, to Cait Sith). "I mean," the girl continued, "that's like, freaky-mind voodoo stuff. You were standing right there—" she gestured to the walkway.

"I just don't remember. It's not a big deal,Yuffie," Cloud finally snapped, getting out of his seat and pushing the chair back so hard that it hit into a damaged bookshelf. "And I don't think it's important. There's someone here and we need to find him."

While Cloud was right about the man in the basement, if Zack thought about the man in the coffin he had seen five years before, that didn't mean that he wanted Cloud to just ignore the entire bit about his mind loss._ 'Hey, you're going insane. But let's talk about a guy sleeping in a coffin.' Good way of changing the subject, Cloud. Doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy inside._ Zack thought, running the tips of his fingers against the wood of the chair he was sitting in.

"We drop da subjec' but if you go green I ain't gunna jus' shoot ya, but it'll be somewhere painful. Y'hear me?" Barret said.

Caith Sith rubbed its paws against its ears, muttered something about 'lassies and laddies with enough problems as it is,' but the ex-SOLDIER couldn't be sure.

Yuffie, whose chipper mood was soured throughout the night, kept silent. Occasionally she would glance from Cloud to Tifa and then to Aeris, but other than her question she kept herself almost unnoticeable.

Tifa was blank. It was almost as it there was no substance to her, that a hand could reach through her pale face and only feel smoke. Her skin developed a pale, white as a sheet of paper hue. While she breathed in and out, her skin stayed the same.

Aeris was rubbing her hands together. "I..." she trailed off. "We should leave. The sooner the better, right?" Glancing to Red, who was on the ground, his nose stuck in a dusty tome, Aeris looked back up, nodding to herself and attempting to smile.

Cloud was looking at her, too, and there was regret and guilt frosting over in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he wanted to say, Zack was sure, but he didn't. After the first time, Aeris began with her patronizing looks.

Sighing and rolling his thumb over a gash in the wood, he reached forward to Yuffie, who stared at his hand, confused, for a second.

"I don't have anything of yours. Check deeper into your pockets, buddy, before ya start blaming others."

Zack narrowed his eyes and reached down to his pocket. His Restore materia was missing. "Runt," he started, standing up and waving his hand in front of Yuffie's guilty face. "Give the materia back and the key. I even know where the room is. I didn't know that he was going to stay down here. Maybe he was just down here for a rest? I don't know. But now I have a good idea why he's down here."

"Hojo?" Red questioned, looking up from his book. "There would be no other, especially if you have stated that you spent time down here." Time was an understatement.

"That would very Hojo-ish." Tifa said, the first time that she had really spoken since the incident. "He was never a good man. Who knows how long he has been locked down there."

"At least five years," Zack answered.

Cloud, who had looked away, turned around. "Maybe he knows something about Jenova."

Zack saw that Aeris winced. "Why would you say that?"

"Because everything involves her when it comes to Hojo." Cloud's mako eyes were proof of that.

After a few minutes, Zack took the materia and the key to the hidden area of the basement, and the others followed him.

"It's over here. You say that it was just hanging off of the banister?"

Cloud said yes, again. "It was just there. I grabbed it as I was going up. I didn't even read it. I guess it was with my sword?"

"Yeah, it was," Barret answered. "Your spiky ass ain't make any sense ta me, 'bandonin' your sword. The whole thing ain't makin' much sense. I think tha' you need ta go to a doctor. One of those mind-fuck doctors."

"There's nothing wrong with him," Aeris said quietly. "You shouldn't be so judgmental. There are things others can say to you about your behavior which hasn't mad a lot of sense."

_Ouch._

"Let's just get the dude and get out. It's creepy down here and I think there's bugs down here. Big spiders. And bats. I don't like bats."

"Doesn't matter, we're here." Zack held out the key to the door, feeling the wall where there was a small indention in the rock. Poking and prodding was the way he found the keyhole the first time, so he began to shuffle it against the rocks. After a few missed lines, the subtle click of the key meeting sounded, and Zack turned it.

The first thing he could see were the three coffins in the room, two open with their contents of bones, both monster and human, gleaming back. The rotten satin and the bats looming overhead created one of the most repugnant smells that Zack had ever smelled. It reminded him of the Wutaian militaristic weapons that ate, shit and slept in bits and pieces of Continental Gaia's, Midgar's, soldiers.

Zack tapped his fingers on the coffin in the center of the room, but no answer.

Cloud, who had situated himself on the other side of the coffin, smacked his hand against the wood, which rattled for a moment before flying off, a man in a thick read cape, tattered at the ends, came forward, eyes as crimson as blood.

"Holy shit!" Zack yelled and jumped back, but the silent, red-eyed man had his eyes trained to Cloud, who stared out defiantly.

"Who are you who disturbs my rest?" The man's voice was low, gravelly and hoarse. His hand came up to cover his eyes, touching his dark hair that was almost as long as Sephiroth's silver locks.

"I'm Cloud Strife."

"And I have been expecting you."

* * *

**How was that for a birthday present? I would like to say that I love you guys, and I adore writing this story and there isn't anything I enjoy more than what I am doing right now. But, now, I need to go to sleep, and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and...**

**Please Review! And everyone gets a piece of cake for Tenacity's first year's birthday. **


	65. Rebirth Three: The Blue Moon

Author Notes: How many of you are angry that I stopped where I did last chapter? Well, sad to say, you're going to have to keep that anger because this chapter is a Rebirth. Sad, I know. But, you get a look into the Turks again, and some slashy smut. Don't you just adore me? But, alas, that means that I must put up one of these...

**Warning: This chapter contains sexually explicit material which may offend minors. Please be cautious, and if you are under the age of consent, don't tell your parents. Haha.**

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because I have no life—the end.

* * *

Rebirth Three: The Blue Moon

Reno wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, gazing out through the thick glass. The moon hung in the sky, a pearl in the deepest of oceans.

"Such a fuckin' sap," he grumbled miserably, making sure that his headpiece was off. The last thing he needed was one of the guys to get anything back from him over at HQ. Raiden had taken a show to his collection of magazines searching for his copy of 'Midgar Man Madness' that Reno had pilfered a few months before. But, as he had cried out, it hadn't been his fault.

"Check out that meat, Rai—it's bigger than yours!"

Reno snickered softly, letting his fingers smooth out his hair on impulse. He always loved his hair in casual disarray; the sex look. Made women wet the the folds between their legs at the thought, even had some men give him a second look over. Though the former was more common, it had only been Zack who he allowed to do it.

Perks to fucking, Reno figured. And really, there wasn't any problem with letting the man do that. How often could a man say that he thought another was sexy? Or, corny as it may have sounded, beautiful.

That shit didn't flow with Reno. Girls tried that with him when he was younger, still new at the game of sack and run. But, as he got older, his eyes more sharp and the softness to his cheeks that most kids from backwater towns had diminishing, he became colder, more calculated. No love, even if he was a god of sex. They could tell him he was beautiful from night til morning, but he would be packing his stuff and gone before they woke. Nothing was better than leaving when there was nothing left to do, even if the woman figured that she had caught and ensnared him in her web of lies.

"Play the game," Reno said, leaning further back into his seat, pushing one of the buttons on the GPS system. Even though he knew where he was going, he didn't know how much further. He only had a little bit more mako, less than a fourth of a tank, it seemed. Mako didn't last very long in his chopper. But, he imagined, carrying him through the sky at a hundred miles per hour, he really didn't expect it to.

Thirteen miles to landing spot north of Gongaga. They would have been up into the mountains already, but because of Scarlet, who decided to show up in Gongaga on a witch hunt for materia. There hadn't been anything of great importance, which had caused her to throw the materia at Rude in her anger. But the man had handled her rather efficiently until Tseng could come, gun showing in his belt. As the woman already didn't like the man, the threat was all but teeth-bared monsters attempting to rip throats out.

Reno scratched at his arm, remembering the last time he had been near the woman for more than a half an hour. He needed nearly a dozen shots of antibiotics to get rid of the STD. It had been right after the year mark for Zack's disappearance.

A noise came over the headset, and the redhead twisted the button to get better reception. Damn middle of nowhere.

"Heli 673," Reno said as he jostled the headphone. "Should be landing within the next half an hour. Got the bitch back in one piece, so any damage after she got off of this beast isn't my fault."

"Reno." It was Tseng, and he sounded quite pissed off. "Reno, when you land, we're going to have to have a long talk."

"Uh, 'bout? I swear, the chick said she was legal, if it's about that."

Tseng clucked. "You know for a fact that I do not care for, nor want to hear, anything of your exploits. This has to do with the file."

"Uh. This is gunna be a stupid question, but what file?" Reno wished he could light up a cigarette.

"File 201745, Reno. The one that I had Elena get for you to bring to me."

Reno vaguely remembered it. "Er. That was the day you gave me an hour to get to Gongaga. She got them for me, remember? What's wrong with 'em, anyway?"

"They are missing bits and pieces, and the President is furious."

"Oh. Shit. Uh... how important was the information in the file?" If he or Elena lost anything in the damn thing they were taking a plunge into the ocean. "Because she gave me everything that was in there, like a good little noob. Didn't even look through it; I would've been able to tell. She's a shit liar. And I certainly didn't go lookin' through it. There's things I don't wanna know 'bout the Company. Whose the person who set up the files?"

"Elena has already stated that she has not looked through the materials, and though there is hesitance, it is clear she didn't lose it. And you," the other side went silent for a minute. "You aren't idiotic enough to do anything."

"But that doesn't answer the question—who organized the file in the first place?"

"Cissnei."

Reno winced at the name. "Oh." He thought about saying a joke, but he couldn't even stomach the thought. She had been a good girl. "Whose files were they?"

"The Scientific Research Department's."

That made things a little worse. "Didn't Hojo quit? Retire? Get the fuck away from specimens and experiments and Shinra?"

Reno could almost visualize Tseng nodding at him curtly. "He has. Which is why I have decided to send You and Raiden to Nibelheim. It was the place where Hojo began his file—I want you to search for the rest of it."

The Turk looked back down at his Mako tank. "I don't have enough Mako to get me there. I'm gunna have to stop where you guys are camping out to pick up Raiden and more mako for the guzzling bastard. You guys have more, right? Cuz', if ya don't I need to know now. I'm like, a few minutes away and don't have too much left."

"We have a surplus of mako for your helicopter, Reno," Tseng sighed, and Reno could hear something in the background. A headboard banging and swearing.

"Hey, they're being loud..." Reno pointed out.

Tseng sighed, and scratched a pen across something. "I am aware."

"Well, don't go in there. They may drag you off into bed with 'em. And I know that you're not into that kind of stuff." Tseng sighed his sigh, which signaled for Reno to shut up and ready for landing. "I'll be there in, uh, four or five minutes, boss."

Tseng said something, but it was muffled by an extraordinarily loud scream. The other side went dead and Reno snorted.

Though it was going to be entertaining watching Tseng squirm (he wouldn't do so physically, but Reno had a knack for seeing the Turk out of it whenever the opportunity came up), Reno didn't want to deal with anyone fucking. The last time he had a good lay was... a long time ago. Hookers didn't do it for him, even though he used them when drunk.

The lights of Gongaga below glittered, and above the moon stared back at him. Reno could almost see a face in the craters.

* * *

Rufus liked when Raiden was tied up.

The President wasn't a gentle man in any aspect, so it never came as a surprise to the redhead that he'd be a mean fuck in bed. A little pain always went a long way, and there really was something hot about blood. Though he was gentle in the case of penetration (lots of lube all over them), Raiden likes to have his hair pulled, throat bitten, and getting cut up.

Just a little.

Tonight was nowhere near different, but it had been a long while.

They were exclusive.

Raiden was on duty more often than not, his last mission having been tracking down another Turk, but whenever they could, the two men would fuck. It was something they had done since Raiden was given the keys to the vice president's apartment when he was still a rookie. Junon had been like a new world, and with it came the idea of trying out new things.

He had learned a lot there, and knew that this was the kind of life he wanted.

So what if the guy employed him? That only made it more fun. And, whenever someone screwed up, it never got taken out on him. The sex was mindblowing and it assured that Raiden, along with his already mastered skills, had a better chance of getting further in the company. He was already Third-in-Command, and if anyone above him died, he'd get bumped up.

He wasn't gunna get stupid and think that it was for love.

Raiden had accepted that Rufus would have to marry a chick, knock her up, and produce a bunch of little pumpkin-headed brats. And he'd get to take care of them... while fucking their father. That was how it worked, and how it would always go. Raiden would get the perks of a life of working for a Shinra, and a little on the side.

He never did tell Rufus that he was the one to put a bullet through his first fiancée's head.

There was another though; pretty, blonde, big blue eyes and painted nails. Raiden couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of _painted_ nails. They didn't do a fucking thing. She was a reminder of the upper-class lives that he had tried to exterminate as a teenager.

He couldn't put a gun to Rufus' head though.

Rufus walked in and smirked, his cool appearance making Raiden sweat.

"Well, look at the situation you've gotten yourself into, Raiden. Tsk." His ice blue eyes had endless depth, and his breath seemed to never end. "What should I do with a Turk that needs to be fucked into the bed?"

"Uh, do it?" Raiden asked, cheekily. "You're the one in charge."

"Well, I think I might untie you."

Raiden's hand twitched. "Whatever you say, boss. You know I'm not too—" he was cut off by the languished moan from his lips as Rufus climbed onto the bed and grabbed his cock, sucking at the tip. "Holy,"Raiden muttered as Rufus' tongue glided down his shaft, his entire being trembling. "You can't keep doing this to me, Ruf. I can't..."

"You can't handle it," Rufus said against his cock, warm breath tickling the sensitive skin. "But you will. Come."

The Redhead bit his lip hard, blood flooding his mouth. He thought of letting it dribble out, a present to Rufus, but decided against it. "No."

Rufus' eyes lit. "You are telling me no? How... interesting. I think I like you tied up more, now." Rufus leaned up, letting his fingers play with the hair between Raiden's legs. "But trust me, you'll be begging to come by the time I"m done with you."

Knowing it was true, Raiden smirked, the blood coating his lips and mouth. He leaned forward as far as he could for a kiss. It was denied.

"I've had a bad day, Turk," Rufus said suddenly, moving from the bed to grab a bottle of lubrication, tossing it against the wall. The plastic bounced off of the wall. "Bite yourself more. I think I'd like to use that instead."

He would comply, because it was Rufus.

He would comply because he...

Didn't love him?

* * *

Tseng allowed himself a moment of rest when Rufus was with Raiden. Even though he reminded the man of Reno more often than not, he could trust him. But Alexander, they sure were **loud. **And though he was straight, the very noises were making his body react in most... undelightful... ways.

But he wouldn't say anything.

Instead, he had decided to call on Reno, who seemed to be rather preoccupied as of a few weeks. It did not surprise Tseng, in the beginning—he had been the one to order Zack's capture, which was considered strange, and Tseng could have possibly lost his job if he had been found by the President or Hojo. Both had lost something—the dead President lost favor with Hojo, and Hojo lost a puppet.

The conversation had been surprisingly short, considering how many things Tseng had wanted to bring up. Yet, he refrained from yelling at the man over the airwaves. Even though it was completely and utterly secure (Shinra was the group which financed the satellites circling the Planet), it would be better to yell at the man when they were face to face.

_Knock._

Tseng sat up in his reclining chair, looking up at the door. There was a fierce head of blonde in the doorway.

"Sir?" Elena asked, her voice anxious, eyes downcast.

Tseng resisted the urge to tell her that Turks did not become weak merely because of a crush, and that he was her commanding officer. But, there had been more destructive people she could have been lusting after.

The banging on the wall was a prime example.

The woman winced and looked over at the wall. "Are they...?"

"Yes. What is it?"

The woman paled a little and seemed to stutter over her words. "I, um. Sir, there's uh. Well."

"Spit it out."

"There was a recent call made to HQ from a woman who lived in the slums. I got the message from Sebastian, who's there. There was an accident, sir."

Tseng folded his hands. "Explain," he said shortly.

"Erm, our newest Turk member's sister was murdered."

Tseng nodded. "I knew of this, Elena. You may go."

"But how? It just happened a few minutes ago!"

Tseng sighed and looked down at his hands. The woman was too naïve. Nothing like her sister. "I spoke with your sibling a few hours ago, and informed her that her job, before heading toward Mideel to track down a rogue assassin that she would take care of things. I do not believe that I need to share any futher information with you, Elena. And if you could, get into contact with Reeve. Tell him that he needs to call me first thing in the morning. Tell him to turn off our little friend."

The woman nodded, her face flushed. The color that had once been present in her skin was gone. She was whiter than Jessie had been when she helped drop the Plate. She left a few seconds later, a strained smile covering her face, with no doubt a question that would go unanswered.

Why?

Tseng looked back into his lap and rubbed at the corner of his suit. The file's bright red ink only enticed him. The noise would be easily blocked out.

He looked out of the window, the moon bright against the sky. And he could almost see flowers looming in the distance.

* * *

**Short, yes. But, lots of stuff. And I'm trying to get back into the swing of stuff. Next chapter shouldn't take so long. **

**Please Review!**


	66. Cyanide

Author Notes: There really isn't much I can say about this chapter, except for the face that if Vincent was alive, I would have his babies. Really.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Sixty Four: Cyanide

"Wa—wait. What?" Zack nearly jumped backward, staring at Cloud and the red-caped man with ill-hidden confusion. "You knew he was here? And you, uh," Zack squabbled, looking around to see that he was not the only confused person in the room. "What's going on?"

"You are...Cloud Strife," the man said, moving his limbs. Zack noticed that Yuffie, who was the next closest person, gagged into her hand and attempted to move further backward. Her eyes were watering, and it seemed that she was trying to hide her existence from the red-cloaked man.

"And you are...you are..." Cloud stumbled with his words. "I don't know you," he finally resigned after a moment. "But you know who I am? How is that possible? Are you someone from... the real Nibelheim?"

Tifa darted her hand out, grabbing Cloud's shoulder. "No, I would have remembered him," she whispered fervently, her wine eyes drawn to the man who had entrapped every person's attention.

"That is correct," the man stated, swishing his cape to the side. His arm, a golden claw, glittered in the light. "I do not come from this land. It is not my home, but it became so when...I sinned, and must atone for those sins."

"So you're fuckin' sleepin' ta get ridda your sins? Ain't tha' a bit dumb?" Barret, as tastefully as he normally was, yelled. His gun arm was trained on the man's head, the safety off. There was a bullet just waiting to go sinking into the man's skull, between his creepy, blood red eyes.

"I must atone for my sins, and to do such I must deal with the nightmares which plague this planet. I have rightly obtained them, and will continue to gain them for as long as I breathe."

One thing that Zack noticed, however, was the fact that the man really didn't look like he was alive. His chest was moving, a subconscious action that just reminded people that they were alive, that their heart was beating, but that smell... not a decaying corpse, but something tinged the man. Death cloaked him better than the redness of his clothing, but below, like a layer between him and the Planet, a membrane which, tucked inside of him, prevented life. His chest may have been moving, he could have been breathing, but his heart... it wasn't beating. Zack couldn't hear it.

"What are you?" Zack asked the man, noticing too late that the question on his mind had been the one to actually come out, rather than the more polite 'what is your name'.

The man, if he could have been called a man, forlornly smiled. "I am... I was part of Shinra's Department of Administrative Research...

"Or, more commonly known as the Turks."

Zack, this time, did grab Cloud's arm, pulling him a few feet back, away from the corpse-like man, whose red eyes gleamed in the dim lighting of the cave.

"Turk..." Cloud whispered, his blue eyes large and protruding. "Thirty years ago, there was a Turk, Zack. They said he had red eyes, like the blood on his hands. Is that him? The legendary Vincent Valen—"

The black-haired Turk cut Cloud's frantic whisper off. "That is what they once called me, yes. But, Now, I have no affiliation with Shinra or the Turks. My home is within this coffin. It would be best if you left."

"Vincent Valentine, you said," Aeris whispered. "That means that you were here thirty years ago... but why? And why did you leave? Why hide yourself away, here of all places?"

Vincent Valentine slowly floated down from the side of the coffin, into the rotting satin. "Do you know of Lucrecia Crescent, Cetra girl?" His voice was not sharp, but mournful. "She was a beautiful woman, one of the few who could brighten this gloomy world with just a word. Her hair, her hands, her eyes. She had the most beautiful brown eyes I had ever laid eyes on... her son, I am sure, eyed up with those eyes," he mused.

"Kid? Lucrecia Crescent?" Zack asked, bewildered. "Don't know anyone whose ma was named Lucrecia, and that ain't a common name. What was the guy's name?"

Yuffie, whose face had gone from her normal hue of tan, was white, paler than chalk. "I think I'm gunna be _uuuuuurggggg_—" She fell to the floor clutching her knees to her chest.

Red pawed at the girl's foot. "I think it would be time to move Yuffie someplace else. It is obvious that something is horribly interacting with her."

Zack, whose eyes had not left the Turk in the coffin, nodded roughly. "Barret, Tifa, Get those two out of here—"

"But what about Sephiroth?" Tifa cracked her knuckles. "We need to defeat him—this could be our only chance. You need to come with us now, before he gets away."

Cloud pulled his arm away from Zack. "She's right. But Yuffie doesn't look like she could even so much as pick—"

_Click_.

Zack's head turned toward where the sound came from, only to see the ever majestic Vincent Valentine, the guy who so many Turks, even Reno, had wanted to become like. Cool, calculated, and aiming his gun perfectly at the back of Tifa's head.

"...Sephiroth?"

Tifa's face paled, much like Yuffie's, and Zack could see her fingers scrambling with pulling on her gloves. She eyed Aeris once, and with a twitch of her nose, Aeris pulled out a small bag of materia from her side. She was fingering a bright red one. Summons. Her summons.

"Why do you speak of Sephiroth as if he is a villain?" Vincent questioned, his voice sharp. Finger lightly gliding over the trigger of his silver gun, the Turk glanced from one face to the next. "What do you know of Lucrecia's child? The beautiful little boy which came from her body?"

Aeris gasped and dropped the materia ball. Cloud was able to pull away from Zack's grasp, his eyes sickening green.

"You know of Sephiroth?" Cloud questioned, his voice low, like a rumble of a god. "His mother was Jenova."

"No," Vincent said as he lowered his gun, tucking it back into his holster. "That is a lie. He came from the womb of Lucrecia Crescent. I watched him enter this world, a crying little child with pale silver eyes. Children always have silver eyes when they first come into this world. Though, I do not believe that I have ever seen a child with silver hair. She reached out for him, but I could do nothing. I was nothing but smoke."

"Zack," Red interrupted. He said nothing else, however, though Zack could almost tell what Red was thinking. _Tell him, right, Red? Tell him that the lady's kid went nuts, burned a town to the ground, and now wants to destroy all life just because he isn't getting enough love from his mommy?_

"I'll tell you," Cloud said. "I'll tell you everything I know about Sephiroth, if you tell us more."

"Begin to speak, _young one_."

Zack's eyes widened, and surprisingly, so did Vincent's.

"What did you cal l him?" Tifa asked, shakily. "What do you mean by that? Cloud?"

What was with Cloud? What was with people constantly referring to him as something Zack had never heard of before. Was this normal? Was this a common occurrence when it came to the blonde boy? Would Zack have to suffer through day upon day wondering who the man, boy, person, whatever he wanted to be called, was? He was Cloud, yes, but why were his eyes green? Why did people refer to his as young one? Why did everything have to be so fucked up? Why wasn't it possible for them to find a place to be alone, to hold each other in the darkness of the night without fear that one of their team would find them? Why did Sephiroth have to exist?

"I do not understand, either. Please, take my condolences." It was rather difficult for Zack to take a man's condolences when he had earlier aimed a gun at hi friend's head. "I want to know more of what you're speaking of. What did Sephiroth do?"

"What didn't he do is the real question," Cloud scoffed, his eyes looking down. The color of anger began to disappear. "He killed everyone in this village, murdered hundreds of people, and now wants to destroy everything and anything that his Mother, or whatever you would call her, wants destroyed. He was a good man, a kind man, once. But now, there is nothing in his soul but hatred."

Zack interrupted, stepping forward. "Cloud knows a lot, and he isn't a liar. But, if I could? I'd like to tell you of the Sephiroth I once knew."

* * *

They stood in silence for an eternity, Zack not sure whether it was night or day. They had moved Yuffie from the room earlier, when Zack began to explain of Sephiroth. The Sephiroth that he knew, the one who was a good man, good friend, good leader. The one who loved Angeal and Genesis, the one who had promised to keep Zack safe. The one that took care of Angeal when no one else could have.

It seemed almost unreal when Cloud began to speak of what happened that cold day in Nibelheim five years ago. Not the same man, it couldn't have been. But Cloud told his tale, and Tifa told hers. The swinging of a sword, her father's blood on her hands, the stairs, the scream, the fall. She was almost dead, and she remembered every bit of it. Zack thought if interrupting once or twice, but chose against it. The color of the ground, or the pod, or even the color of his mother, Jenova's, hair, did not matter. Zack could almost feel his scar, even though it was gone. The only one left was his face, caused by Angeal on that day, so very long ago.

Cloud didn't have his scar. Tifa did.

Maybe that was one of the reasons Cloud would never love her? He was grasping for straws, hoping to grab the right one, but it was one more thing that they shared together.

"I... I see." Vincent stood from his coffin, eyes drawn to the cracks of the walls. "I believe what you have told me today, and it has added one million more sins to atone for. Please, it would be best if you left now. I cannot look at you."

"NOT FAIR!" Yuffie yelled from the doorway. Her face was colorless, still, but she held up her shuriken, ready to throw it at the man's head with the slightest quiver. "You said you'd tell them, urk, about Sephiroth and his mama, uuuuugh."

"I think your friend is going to vomit. Please leave." Vincent fell to his back, the cover of the coffin coming down.

Zack banged his hand against the wooden prison. "Please come with us. We need to find Sephiroth and stop him. We need to find Hojo, too. He needs to pay for this whole bag of shit." Zack thought of pleading with the man, but that wasn't a way of gaining any points, he knew. Turks admired power and control. Not begging and pleading or even the idea of humanity. Their jobs were to spread Shinra's ideals, not to do things because they were right.

The others looked at him, their stares ranging from nonplussed to anger.

"There isn't anything more we can do," Aeris said as she reached backwards, grabbing Yuffie's arm so that she wouldn't fall over. "Some people do not stay to their word, Zack. You know that. Even though it isn't right by our standards, a Turk is different. Just think about over Turks that we know. At least he listened to us. Though, I believe we have given him another reason to stay down here and sleep forever."

Zack turned to Cloud, who still stared at the box. He reminded Zack of a small child, confused as to where his Jack in the box had gone off to. "There isn't anything more we can do. C'mon. Let's get out of here. We'll cross the mountains tonight."

Cloud's shoulders slumped in defeat, and he let out a sigh. "I don't think I can leave him here," the blonde said, quietly. "He knows something he isn't telling us. That isn't good, Zack. Especially if it has to do with Sephiroth. You know we need to find him, challenge him, and destroy him. But, what if there's something in play that'll change that? We can't run into situations blindly. We need him, Zack."

"Cloud's right,there's something about all of this that just isn't clicking in my head... Zack, we need to get him to come with us." Aeris moved from where she stood, her hands wrapped in her long brown hair. The bow at the top was tangled in her locks.

Yuffie, who began to look more normal, shook her head twice before her skin went white. She gagged, holding her hand over her mouth. "Holy Leviathan—don't bring him with us! I don't _ugk_ care that he's a Turkey or some weird vampire dude locked in a basement—I can't stand how he reeks! Please, oh please with all Wutai's treasures, don't bring him along!"

Before she could continue, however, Barret wrapped one meaty hand over her face, effectively blocking all sounds the girl could make. "You shu' up, twerp. We ain't gunna deal wit' you talkin' 'bout your weird ass nose an' you smellin' the guy. We need ta wake his mother fuckin' ass up and bring him wit' us. We don't know if he's on Shinra's side or not! He could, for all we know, be down with the dudes that put him in this place."

"Don't you think that's a bit insulting?" Aeris huffed. "Someone put him down here, bound him with something to keep him here. He's obviously not on Shinra's side, and most certainly not on Hojo's side. No one is on Hojo's side but himself."

The coffin rocked for a moment, and the lid came off. "Do not assume that I am on Hojo's side. He is the reason why I sleep, why I must atone for my sins. So do not compare him to me. We are connected. Yes, but I would rather kill him than allow him to survive."

"You know, we're going to find him, one of these days..." Cloud tugged away from Zack and cautiously walked forward. He put his fingers on the coffin. "You can come with us. We need to stop him, and we will see him. Wouldn't you want to end this? Locking yourself up isn't going to do anything but make you feel more guilty."

"I wish to stay here, but She wants me to go with you. I have little choice . Do you understand, Cloud? She said that you would, and thus, I will continue this journey with you." Zack watched as the man rose into the sky, lifted by nothing but sheer will, it seemed, before his gold-plated shoes descended down upon the earth, sending a ripple through the entire mansion. The walls shook, spider webs coming undone. It was as if a vengeful Goddess took her wrath out where he stood.

Cloud nodded sharply and turned to the others, his eyes going from one step to the next without a moment of hesitance. "He's coming with us."

Yuffie pucked her thin streams of yellow into the ground, but no one but Red attempted to comfort her.

* * *

The man was a fucking nut-job.

That was Zack's first impression of the man. He stalked like he was chasing after prey, one hand on the handle of his gun, which was tucked inside of a holster attached to his waist. His gold-plated hand, Zack wasn't sure yet if it was his real hand, a prosthetic or even just a gauntlet, was a constant, clutching to his chest. Vincent didn't like the others looking at it, but he refused to say anything on the matter. Hiding it from the world, hiding it from prying eyes, big eyes, small eyes, angry eyes and some scared. But they were Avalanche, for Holy-sakes.

Aeris had been the first to befriend the ever silent man. She had been so positive, Zack thought, a light in the dark morning of Nibelheim.

The man's eyes were not what they used to be, he had said, yet within the same minute he shot a bird from the sky from the corner of his gaze. Aeris, while Zack could see the fear in her hands, which were clutched before her as if she were in prayer, smiled and congratulated the mysterious stranger.

"Hmm. Perhaps."

"Oh, it was truly great! You must have been quite a Turk in your time, right?"

"Aeris," Cloud yelled from where he and Zack stood. "Can you come here for a moment. I need to speak with Vincent for a moment." The blonde exchanged a quick look with Zack, who nodded. "Speak to her," Cloud mumbled below his breath, but Zack could hear every word like it had been whispered into his ear.

The woman gave a serene smile before jogging away from the front of the Shinra Mansion, where Vincent stood, his body stiff in the light, dewy morning light. Cloud walked by her, his hair shining as the sun hit it.

"You know," Aeris said when she finally reached Zack, her arms covering her chest in a sign of obvious discomfort, "I think I get it, now. More than anything else before, Zackary. It's been so hard, for all of us. I've been attempting to pretend like I cant' see what is going on before my own eyes, but it's time that I finally fully and completely surrendered to this. It is what it is. There isn't anything else that can change it."

Zack scrunched up his nose and ran a hand through his hair. "What're you talking about, Aer? I just don't understand. I thought, that well... you, yeah. Him. This." Zack made a wide circle with his hands before leaning backwards against the fence in front of the Shinra Mansion. His eyes quickly darted to the side, seeing the others nearer to the town, Vincent and Cloud somewhere on the other side. Maybe inspecting the thing Vincent had shot? It would have mattered more if Zack hadn't known who the man was.

"Anyway," the man said as he looked back to Aeris, whose green eyes were unusually bright, "that guy? Yeah. He's not only a Turk, but he's Vincent Valentine. The most famous Turk to ever live. The sharpest shot in all of the continental area. This guy is fucking epic. And, better yet, I know he doesn't like Hojo. Remember that night in the Shinra Head Quarters? I told you about him. He did something wrong and disappeared. Now we know where he's been and who put him there. That doesn't mean that we can't make sure he's not a loon. We've got a lot of stuff to do, and I don't want him to do anything rash. Like trying to protect Sephiroth."

Aeris bit her lip and looked over, her eyes scanning the area. With a far away tone, she said, "I... I don't think he will, Zackary."

"How would you know, though? For sure? Is it one of those things that you can't tell me or something?" It was meant to be a joke, but the serious look on Aeris face meant that she had clearly taken it in the other direction.

"He knew that I was a Cetra, an Ancient." Aeris tucked her shoulders closer to her body and leaned on her right foot. "And I just feel something in here, okay? I can't explain it to you," she sighed and bit her lip, looking down. Her feet were digging into the dust of the road. "Can't you trust me? Like you always have? Trust Cloud."

A twinge went through Zack, and he looked back, to where the two had been standing before they disappeared for a moment. The two were back, so polarized opposite in their looks that it almost made Zack's eyes burn. So interesting, black and blonde, red and blue, light and dark, it seemed.

Zack didn't like it.

Cloud looked a bit blank. He was standing still, not his normal still, with his back a little straighter than usual, and a petulant frown. The boy looked like someone had taken his chocolate away. Vincent, who stood next to hi, the cape bellowing in the light, cool breeze of the morning, was the same state as he had been in before.

Zack saw the soft stream of something flowing under Vincent's skin if he searched hard enough. Light, fragile, a whisper in the cold night in the middle of an empty forest. A child crying for a mother who was gone. Bugs slipping and sliding through the dirt, their poisonous fangs ready to tar through another animal if given the chance.

The man was different, and lived up to what he seemed to have been portrayed as—stoic, cold, indifferent. All were words that were made for Vincent Valentine. The believed that he held the world up above his shoulders, the reason why anything and everything which could possibly go wrong. An idea that was egocentric to the point of hilarity, yes, but the man honestly believed in the fact. It wasn't Zack's right, or anyone else's, to point it out, to show that Vincent was just being melodramatic.

Chances were that the Turk, ex-Turk, had done something foolish in his time working for the Company. No human, sanity floating through the stratosphere or not, would allow themselves anywhere close to the man while in an emotionally-distraught position. To do so would be worse than suicide. And Zack really liked the guy, sans his creepiness.

In fact, Zack was sure somewhere he had seen the man. His cool features, the sharp chin and almond shaped eyes. High cheekbones and a constant dour look. The hair, sweeping around him like he was a god, or perhaps more properly a demon. The way his hand touched the weapon at his side. He was a warrior, a man of death. Mourning from the moment that the sun began to shine down on him—so unusual...

"Zack, it's not nice to stare."

Stumbling back, his concentration broken, Zack twisted a smile to cover up his momentary lapse into thought. "Yeah, I know. It's just there's something... naw, don't worry 'bout it, Aeris. I'm just thinking a lot lately. You know how I can get."

A smile finally broke from her face, and Zack's gut clenched. There were creases beginning to surface around her eyes from the emotional softballs he had been throwing at her as of late. There wasn't any reason for her, Aeris Gainsborough, to look so out of place, like the red flower in her flowerbed in the church. It wasn't supposed to be there, not naturally. The colors had germinated a flower that looked nothing of its brothers and sisters.

"Wait, Aeris." Zack bit his lip and looked up. "How do plants reproduce? I remember my mom told me a long time ago, but I can't remember. Do you know why? I mean, you're the plant girl, after all. Selling your flowers,. You've gotta know how to make them reproduce on their own."

Aeris tapped her finger on her lip before turning around, grabbing hold of the fence. "It's simple, really. I plant the seeds into the ground and nurture them to the point where they begin to pollinate. And then, it is up to themselves and the Goddess. The butterflies that visit my church, I don't know how they get in, but they come and with the bees, help spread it from plant to plant. When the time comes, a pod will fall, and it will create plants of its own. Why do you ask?"

Fingering the material of his shirt, noticing the wear, Zack shrugged. "I remembered that red flower down in the slums. I was just wondering how those types of things happen."

Aeris' hands turned white, the metal below her fingers making a sharp sound as she twisted her hands along the bleak and dirty black metal. "I don't know how it all works, Zack. Sometimes special things happen in my garden. Maybe one of the butterflies touched a man's roses, and carried their pollen to my flowers? I couldn't say for sure. Maybe it was that chance in a lifetime, where something becomes different simply because you want it to be."

"There's no such thing as chance."

Zack looked away from the woman to Vincent, whose red eyes glowed. His mouth, covered by the red fabric, muffled his words only a little. The man continued, "If the option comes to me, I will kill him. She would not want a child who caused harm to anyone or anything. Lucrecia was more pacifistic than most. Her son should have followed in her footsteps, rather than becoming... a monster."

His eyes, red like rubies, or fresh blood, focused on Zack's violet ones. "You were a SOLDIER." It was a fact, not a question. "I remember how your kind became. A foolish desire to become more monster than human, a desire to control the world with blood, rather than peace. I have watched SOLDIER rise from the ground like waiting zombies, searching for their next meal. I do hope that such things do not occur. I am no longer of the Turks, but I will not allow another to rise."

"Is that a death threat?" Zack asked, pushing himself up to his fullest height, letting his back sharpen, the old training of SOLDIER coming to the surface, bubbling like boiling water. "I am not a zombie, and neither is Cloud. We aren't like the first SOLDIERs. Our bodies have accepted the mako and other chemicals, and we have become enhanced, but haven't lost our minds. Right, Cloud?"

The first experiments were failures, Zack would give the ex-Turk that. They would lose their minds and go after innocent people, wanting nothing more than to bleed them dry and to dance on their corpses. That was before they found Jenova floating around in some mako pond somewhere further up north. Hojo got his fingers on it with a few other well-known scientists, and that was the end of incurable greenness. The only person who every truly retained that look for longer than the briefest of times was supposed to be dead. If only he was, they could have lived an okay life after their escape from the labs. So close, Zack could almost feel their ghosts imprinted on the town. The panic left a scent like death, masked by the sweetness of victory.

Cloud had said something, but Zack couldn't tell what it was. All it sounded like to him was gibberish, like playing something at fifteen times the speed.

"Huh? You just sounded like you've been inhaling a helium balloon," was something that Zack wanted to say, but decided against it. He was playful, but not right now. The man staring at him, face holding the impassiveness of a killer, but the intrigue of a madman. The androgynous face, a prince's aristocracy and a Turk's coldness, so new, but at the time, so familiar.

"I cannot comprehend the girl's scent."

Zack understood that, and looked over to Yuffie, who had wrapped a cloth over her mouth and nose. The paisley print didn't fit in with her dark hair and gray eyes, the ex-SOLDIER noted with a snicker.

"Her smell, or the fact that any time she gets within ten feet of you she looks like she's going to vomit all over those shiny shoes?" Zack casually asked, his lips twisting up into a wide smile. "She's always been on the loopy side, and there isn't a lot that can be said otherwise."

A hand smacked against his shoulder. Cloud pointed a finger at him, and when Zack looked away, he could see that Aeris was laughing, though there was no laughter in her eyes.

"She is quite an oddity. Really, really weird kid. And, anyway, she's one of those types of kids that likes to steal things from people's pockets, though I think you're more than safe from her kleptomania. She can't seem to walk anywhere near you to get into them." Cloud's snarky words seemed to be unfazing.

Vincent, who had been ignoring Zack and the others, was sniffing, though the raven-haired man could tell that it was in a form that few people could possibly catch on to what he was actually doing, his cape. The man's head bent down, the cape fluttering by. On second thought, Zack thought as he looked closer at Vincent's face, maybe he just naturally acted as though there was something wrong at all times. He didn't seem to be a man of many words, or a complainer, so even if he asked, Zack was sure the man would not answer. But really, what was so intriguing about the cape? Was he cold?

"She will eventually have to explain herself," Aeris replied, nonchalantly, and raised her hands over her head, stretching up onto the balls of her heels. "I'm sure whatever it is has some great point to it. Or, she'll try to make it seem like a big point, while in fact it's something simple and stupid. She's a good girl though."

Tifa and Barret, who were now holding a few packages to set down and split, seemed to have everything under their control in that regard, and Yuffie was sucking on a lolly underneath the paisley handkerchief. Red was by the young girl's side, his head twisting from side to side, large black nose in the air, pointed toward the rising sun. The red hair seemed to glisten in the lights, the scars on his body becoming more prominent.

"You've met everyone, right? Because I don't think I can go through any introductions with them right now. They know who you are, and we're a pretty happy group of people. Better than what could be said most of the time about some people. Just keep your head down and try and avoid Yuffie and things will go smoothly." Zack tried to look away from the others, but couldn't. His eyes seemed to be drawn to the four team members, whose tiredness seemed to match his own.

"That is acceptable," Vincent said, his voice gravelly and low. "I am more that capable of blending into the shadows."

* * *

_He can certainly blend into the shadows. _

Zack searched through the darkened crevices of the cave, deep inside the Nibel Mountains. The ground shimmered with crystallized mako, small bugs and little creatures caught and morphed into stone monsters inside, staring up at him through the cold, glass-like surface. The ground let off little light from its glowing materials, but it wasn't really enough to truly help the man see. It was dark and while his eyes were uncommonly good at seeing because of his own mako, it was just too difficult to see Valentine.

But, he could barely hear the scraping of his metal hand on the rock.

_Thunk_.

"You need to move your head thirteen degrees to the left and two centimeters up. If you attempted not to slouch, then that would not have happened."

Zack sighed and grabbed the hand from his shoulder. If it hadn't been for his arm guards, the man's claw would have gone straight through. The other arm, still holding up the Buster, turned threateningly up. "Thanks. I think."

"You have more composure than your predecessors. I will follow behind."

For a man who spent thirty years in a coffin, the guy wasn't half bad. A bit anti-social, always hanging in the back, normally alone, but still spoke in full sentences.

"Fine then. I'm going back up front with the others. Don't get eaten," Zack finished, jokingly.

Vincent only turned the safety of his gun back on and hid t back within his cape, turning swiftly, and rather dramatically, to fall back into the darkness of the cave.

Sighing and shaking his head, Zack headed forward again, out into the morning light on top of the mountain. The others were prepared for a fight should it have come; even Yuffie was beginning to gain back her color, and had tied the handkerchief around her wrist instead.

"Yo!" Zack looked to the girl, who waved her armored arm up, waving frantically. "Where'd he go!? You can't just let people run around and stuff! You won't let me do it!"

Aeris tapped the girl on the head with her staff, much like an older sister scolding their younger sibling. "Be nice, Yuffie. The man has had a hard time... He promised to stay with us, so you should be at least pleased with that. Just don't bother him, all right?"

Cloud, who was holding his new sword up into the light, rolled his eyes. "Yuffie," he began, bringing the metal sweeping through the air in practice, "we don't trust you. That's everything wrapped up in a pretty little bow."

"_Whaaaaat_?" The girl jumped up into the air, her left leg kicking into the side of the mountain. A few rocks came loose, one hitting Red on the back, the other landing neatly in Tifa's upturned palm (Zack wasn't sure if it was on purpose or not. Most likely not, because the woman looked as surprised as he had). "You sayin' that I'm a hassle, old dude? Don't make me _laugh_!" She let out her one indecisive laugh. "Erm. Right?"

No one answered her.

"So... we ain't got a choice but ta go through da reactor, right?" Barret questioned, looking over to the road before them. Any plantlike or vegetation which was behind them sure wasn't going to come back. The road was lined with dead plants, shriveled in on themselves, their seeds littering the ground.

A clear sign of a mako reactor.

"Yep," Cloud answered before sheathing his sword. "We should begin seeing the smoke soon. It was supposed to have been shut down... when everything happened. But, it's clear that it's still running. Hojo probably still has things in there, so we should just try to get through to the other side without going in there."

Zack knew that the words missing from it were that Cloud didn't want to go in there. Too much had happened there. It just wasn't a good place to be anymore. Things were still too fresh in their minds. It was an open wound, which could still become infected.

"And Sephiroth won't be in there. I'm sure of it."

Tifa also looked fairly uncomfortable until that moment. Her hands (Now missing the small rock) were folded up into the thin fabric jacket she was wearing. The pack nestled on her back didn't seem to be so heavy anymore. "That's good," she smiled, forced only at the corners.

"So," Yuffie clucked her tongue and kicked a little bit of dirt into the air, "we should get headin' over there again, right? We don't have all night."

"She's right," Aeris answered. "We should get going. Where is Vinc—"

"He's still in the cave." Cloud pat Tifa on the shoulder as he passed her, shrugging off his pack near her feet. "Zack and I will go find him. Give us a few minutes and we'll be back."

Before Zack was able to say anything, the blonde's arm butted into his, sending him a little off balance for a moment before he realized that Cloud wanted him to follow. Laughing a little to the others before turning, the ex-SOLDIER followed Cloud back into the cave.

Cloud had him pinned up against the wall within three steps out of the light. The blonde's lips collapsed onto Zack's, and there was hunger in his touch.

At first, Zack was too shocked to say anything; Cloud has said they were going in to look for Vincent, but Vincent had said so himself that he would be sticking behind. Then, after a moment of the warm lips on his and the sparkling ground reflecting light into Cloud's blonde spikes, Zack succumbed to the kiss. He pressed harder into Cloud's, letting his lips open. Hands entwined in hair, and Zack wasn't even sure who was holding who. They were so close that Zack could feel Cloud's heartbeat.

Cloud opened his mouth and touched his tongue to Zack's lips, begging for entrance. Without much hesitation, the violet-eyed man did, letting their heated tongues melt together, neither fighting for dominance, neither submitting to the other's warm, cavernous mouth.

Zack didn't stop until he heard a whining coming from somewhere in the cave, and a deep angry growl.

"What was that?" Cloud said against Zack's lips.

Before he was able to answer the beast came into view, covered in dragon's blood. The purple or blue hair, Zack wasn't sure which, was coated in it like the beast had bathed in it. And in the monster's mouth was the head of the dragon, chewed from the neck bone.

"Holy."

But, as the dragon head fell from the monster's mouth and rolled forward, the beast fell to the ground, the skin bubbling below the surface. The monster shook and roared, the fur retracting into its skin, the teeth and horns pushing back through its pores, the tail snapping and the back breaking and reforming into what looked to be human vertebrae. Hair on its head pushed out, black as night, and the clothing slowly started to form once again on the beast, or human's, body.

The red cape. The red bandanna wrapped around the black hair. The golden gauntlet.

"...Vincent?"

* * *

**Haha. Okay, we're going to stop there, because really, this chapter was quite long, considering. Sorry about it taking so long to get out to you, but I hope you enjoyed it! There's a new poll on the profile, so if possible, could you go do that? And tell me whether or not you like Vincent. I hope I got him right. He's a very difficult character to write.**

**Please Review!**


	67. Those Who Yield

Author Notes: Slow, but not dead. I just want to thank you all again for dealing with this crazy schedule of updates. I know, it's not fun. But, I'll get it on track soon, I hope. It's not that I'm not writing, it's just there really isn't enough time to write, if that makes any sense. It's just not getting done at a fast pace. Don't worry, though! New chapters will come! Also, as just a reminder, I am reading your reviews, and I will try to get back to writing back. Once again, time constraints, but I'm trying. One last thing--really, a 1? Tenacity is that bad? Well... I'm a little upset, but at the same time vaguely amused. Not happy, but still kind of funny (but really, a 1? That's like trollishly bad. I can deal with a 4 but a 1 is like... '& reno was liek 'harder, Zakc' and zck was lieke 'zomhg, pluz, cuum on me i cannt w8')

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Chapter Sixty Five: Those Who Yield

Vincent looked almost peaceful unconscious.

The team was situated in a barren building, decrepit with time and weathering. The bitter summers and the even colder winters had struck the place with an almost imposing look. It seemed that if there wasn't a steel frame, the building would have already fallen over. Though it wasn't a place truly fit to be lived in, Zack could tell that it once was, albeit sterile, housing department for scientists and technicians. Over time, technology made human work almost obsolete, and the place became less frequented. From the dust situated on the ground, it had been a dozen or so years since the place had been used.

Tifa had found the lights and a heater, both solely running off the mako generated by the reactor. The place was filthy and disgusting on the inside and out, but it had running water from the collection barrels for the rain and snow (though they must have passed through a thousand filters to remove the mako green tinge), lights and heat. It also had, much to everyone's comfort, bedrooms that were off to the side of the main computer terminal, though the mattresses were caked with grime. Aeris had taken to pulling the sheets off of the bed, shoving them in the small linen closets.

Barret had said when they found it that there had been a similar place in Corel, and seemed to know the tiny building like he had been there a million times. With how long the reactor had been around before its explosion, Zack was sure the man had. There was a stash of non-perishables in the back of the room, as well as other supplies, such as a much needed medical kit (because while the others had their fix of potions and materia, nothing seemed to be working on the still unconscious ex-Turk, and Zack was sure that Aeris knew how to use basic medical supplies to suture a wound on the man's upper arm from the dragon).

Cloud hadn't left Vincent, opting to carry the man out of the cave himself. Zack thought of being nervous if not for the short look that Cloud had given him; it was a hybrid between confusion over Vincent's state of... monsterness, and understanding over Zack's somewhat moody disposition. They hadn't really explained what had happened in the cave, first and foremost because it wouldn't be prudent to start off their explanation with "Well, Zack's tongue was down my throat...", as well as the fact they just didn't know what the fuck had happened. The beast that Vincent had morphed into and then back didn't seem to surface again.

The man was still covered in monster blood, the drips spilling from his mouth. At first, the others looked horrified, Yuffie screaming about vampires and getting the garlic out, even with her nose shoved under her handkerchief. Cloud, however, had glared his best glare, and no one wanted to get on Cloud's bad side. They didn't want that glare directed at them.

There was a small bathroom in the building, and Zack had helped Cloud and the still knocked out Vincent into the back, navigating through the hallways, having to climb over a few relics to get to the room. Between a door to another bedroom and the old heating room, a smell that could only be explained as old, stagnant water, met Zack's nostrils. The scent made his nose twitch in discomfort; with their luck, someone had left the tub full of water and a thousand fungus's had grown inside.

Zack opened the door a few inches, reaching his hand to the side, sliding over the wall in search for the light switch. His fingers met the plastic and he pushed the switch up, letting the room fill with light, at the same time kicking the door open.

It wasn't as bad as it could have been. The dust was thick, as it was everywhere else, and though there were places where the ground had begun to mold, it wasn't too bad. The bath needed a quick washing before they put Valentine into it, but otherwise it wasn't going to kill him. There didn't seem to be anything which would kill the man, or anyone who took a shower.

"Okay," Zack said as he turned to Cloud, whose muscles were beginning to strain under Vincent's weight, "Put him up against the wall. It's going to take a few minutes to get the water warm, let alone clear. The pipes have probably rusted to all fuck and back. Disarm him—take away his gun so that when we start stripping him he doesn't shoot us."

At strip, Cloud's eyes bulged. "I don't think that's the best idea, Zack. He's a Turk, not to mention a man who could," he looked around the hallway to make sure that none of their friends were lurking around the corner, "change." Cloud hesitantly looked down to Vincent, the blood beginning to dry on his face, matting his hair. "I'm not scared of the man; Vincent's a great sharpshooter and I'm sure he can do some great moves with that gauntlet of his, but who says he won't turn back into the monster?"

The ex-SOLDIER turned away from Cloud and walked to the shower, turning the hot water knob. Red water spilled from the faucet. His hands felt like dead weights. "I don't know if he's gunna do that again, Cloud. But we can't just leave his unconscious, or covered in blood. You don't remember what it was like, Cloud, but I remember waking up and having to carry you around covered in mako. It's not an excuse, but I know it's disgusting. Plus, we can't have him out for two weeks. Sephiroth's probably already over the mountain, doing who fucking knows what, and we can't leave Valentine here."

"You want to wake him up by attempting to drown him?"

"Well, no. When you were out, the only way I'd be able to even get you to open your eyes was to put you in water. I'm goin' off of what I know and what I don't know. Plus dragon blood can become highly potent. You don't want to be near a guy covered in dragon's blood. And, as far as we're aware, he was covered in the stuff." The raven-haired man attempted to crack a smile, but is seemed to come out more as a grimace than anything. "Plus, he could have gone into shock. For some reason I don't think the guy thought he was going to turn into a beast to munch on a dragon neck."

Zack swished his hands in the water, the grime on the sides stubborn, but with a few swipes it came somewhat clean. The water was beginning to clear, and he clucked his tongue. There was old shampoo on the side, but he'd get someone to go get his own bag.

"You know." Zack turned around to see Cloud leaning on the sink, searching through the medicine cabinet. "He'll kill you if he wakes." The boy pulled out a few boxes of gauze which were still unopened, holding them up to the light before absent-mindedly nodding.

Huffing under his breath, Zack pushed the stopper into the drain, the hot water now splashing inside, filling the tub. "He'll be happy that we didn't let the girls do this to him."

"He won't be pleased either way. We barely know him, and you're already attempting to disrobe him. I'm going to tie his hands together, when we get him undressed. I don't know if that claw is permanent or now, but one swipe and it'll slit your throat."

Shivering, Zack looked down at the man. The gold glinted off his gauntlet, the red cape, splattered with blood that only stood out from the wetness, covering the arm. "Yeah, good idea Cloud. Except for the fact that binding his hands may just make him even more angry if he wakes. Let's not. I'll just pull the damn thing off his arm."

Cloud began to say something, however he cut himself off, looking at the door apprehensively.

Aeris came in, her hair matted with grime, a box of normal medicines and appliances inside. "What happened with him?" she asked as she peeled off her jacket, tossing it into the hallway. Cloud moved out of the way, though there was not enough room for him to squeeze out of the blocked door.

"He tangoed with a dragon. Came out the better man," Zack quickly answered. It wasn't a lie, per se. After all, Vincent had tangoed with the dragon, and did come out the better... beast fit in, rather than man, however.

The woman could tell it wasn't the full truth, but said nothing on the matter. She simply sighed and pushed her bangs from her face in a huff. "Zackary, I hope you weren't planning on letting him back into his clothes without them being washed. I'll get him a pair of your clothes that you don't wear often. There are more First Class uniforms here; it seems that this place was also was a place for SOLDIERs."

_Genesis? It was a long time ago, but he did need a place to stay when he decided to taunt Sephiroth with his mother. Though, it doesn't seem that it was his actual mother. _Zack looked away from Aeris and Cloud, who was frowning, and deviated his glance from Vincent to his boots. Sephiroth never knew that his mother wasn't an alien; Zack blamed Hojo, but a piece of him wanted to blame Vincent. The man wallowed in his own self pity for thirty years. He could have spent ten minutes explaining to Sephiroth that his mother wasn't a rogue monster from the furthest corners of the Galaxy.

No matter the stories, Sephiroth's mother had been, according to Valentine, a beautiful woman full of life. But, perhaps it was a good thing that Sephiroth hadn't known about her. She had given her own womb to Hojo as an experimentation. No child would ever want to think that their whole purpose was as an experiment. Was it better that Sephiroth thought his mommy was space gunk? Zack wasn't sure, but he deeply wanted to say no. A beautiful woman, scientist or no, was better than Jenova. Holy, anything was better than Jenova.

Aeris pat Cloud's shoulder as she left, and Zack could see the resistance in her hand, a fearful move that anticipated an attack. Aeris and Cloud were on good terms, right? And, whatever was what kept hurting her when she touched Cloud was obviously not present. There were no green tendrils licking his skin, no eyes that blazed with poison, no shaking. It was just Cloud. Sweet Cloud.

The door swung shut and Cloud bent down, grabbing Vincent's cloak, his face red. The blonde muttered something under his breath, too low for Zack to hear, though he had the distinct feeling that it involved Aeris. Or himself, for that matter.

"Don't be so rough with him," Zack said a moment too soon, only to see Cloud cradle Vincent's head as he slipped the cloak from his shoulders, using it to pillow the man's head. Zack snorted in ignominy. "Okay then. I guess you can strip him; after all, you're the gentle one, right? The one least likely to attempt to drown him." The contempt came off him like waves, and Zack mumbled.

Cloud rolled his eyes and wiped his dragon's bloodied hands on his pants. "What's crawled up your ass, Zack? Is it because I'm not banging his head into the floor?"

_No, I just don't like you touching him. He may be the oh so famous Vincent Valentine, and he may be as amazing as the legends say he is, but I don't like you being gentle with him. You're supposed to be gentle with me, because I'm your...I'm your SOLDIER. You're supposed to hold onto me and I'm supposed to protect you. You're strong, Cloud, but I want to be strong for you. It's my wanting to protect you. You probably don't understand my weird wants, but I do. You can't be so happy touching Vincent, a guy you barely know, yet you still punch me. _

"No, Cloud. I just want to figure out why he's turning into a Behemoth. Gotta keep up with everything, right?" Zack turned the water off, looking at Vincent's blood covered face. He was calm when unconscious. Not too scary. "I'll get him out of his clothes. You go get him some of my things."

"But Aeris said—"

Zack cut him off. "I need a brush and stuff, as well. He's got long fucking hair. It'll get stuck in the drain. C'mon, Cloud. Just go do it for me?" Zack blinked, his long eyelashes almost touching his cheek, a thin smile covering his lips. Whatever anger he wanted to show, the frustration of everything, was masked.

The boy nodded, standing up, sparing a glance at Vincent on the floor before turning his head to Zack. Nibbling on the bottom lip for a moment, Cloud looked like he would say something, however he refrained. He left not a moment later, frowning, his eyes looking down; it wasn't right for him to look so downcast and blue.

_Okay, so strip the beastie Vincent and toss him into water. Suicide mission? Possibly, but it's better if I do this alone. Partially because the fact that Cloud could get his head bitten off and I'm not worried about myself, and the rest from the fact that Cloudy doesn't need to see naked men. Most certainly not pretty naked men. _Zack resisted the urge to rub his eyes before getting on his knees, reaching for the gauntlet.

There was a fair amount of cloth hiding the hazardous weapon, but once Zack was able to _actually_ reach the thing, it came off surprisingly easy. Zack ran his finger over the top, where the metal met Vincent's arm, and his finger glided over a hair-thin slit. He simply pressed his nail into the space and slide it down, the armor coming apart with ease. It split down to his wrist, where Zack was able to flip the gold over and slowly extract the fingers from each prison. In all honesty, at first Zack thought he had broken the thing, but when he fully and completely removed it from the man's arm, it snapped back together with ease.

Zack reached out and put the gauntlet on top of the toilet, where it wouldn't get wet or damaged if a scuffle broke out when Zack tried stripping the gun man.

"Trust me, I'm probably more uncomfortable with this than you are. You wouldn't know, but I haven't gotten laid in five years. Naked bodies and all that jazz aren't fun in the middle of labs. No worries, though. I won't be touching you like that." The buckles holding his shirt on fell to the floor with a clatter, yet Zack continued on. "I'm pretty enamored with Cloud. That's why I'm doing this myself, you see. He hasn't seen me in the buff yet, and I'd rather him not get any ideas 'bout you in his head." He worked off the headband, grimacing when his fingers touched the dragon's blood. "Granted, I'm fuckin' gorgeous naked, not like it's any of your concern. I'm sure I can beat your ass in the looks department. I mean, at least my skin has some form of pigment."

Vincent didn't say anything; Zack would be surprised if he had woken up, even with Zack running a commentary about Shiva knew what. Was it getting uncomfortable in the room? Temperature rising? Perhaps the ceiling was about to fall in and impale them both. Zack thought that would have been nice.

"So, I think it's time to get your shirt off. Oh, don't be silly, I'm not going to ogle at you. I've got Cloud. Have I talked about Cloud? He's pretty much the most important thing to me at the moment, though I think that you probably already know that, because I haven't shut up about him." Fumbling with the man's shirt, the buckles already unclasped, Zack slipped the man out, letting him lay on the dirty, blood-stained shirt. The ex-SOLDIERs hand reached for the button to his pants, but was stopped abruptly by Vincent's eyes flying open.

The man didn't say anything before he attacked, his hand flying up to grab hold of Zack's hair. With his still booted feet_ (I thought I forgot something)_, Vincent kicked Zack's knees, giving himself enough leverage to flip to a crouch. Zack reached up to the man's iron-grip, attempting to pry the hand from his hair; when it didn't work, Zack aimed a punch to Vincent's face. The man's grip did not slack, even though Zack felt the satisfying crunch of bone under his hand.

Vincent growled, red eyes glinting dangerously, and his other hand grabbed his throat.. The man wanted to say something, even with dragon's blood staining his teeth red, redder than his eyes. The man probably wasn't even aware where he was or what he was doing. Zack had been disorientated for a while after escaping from the labs. Same place the other man had escaped from, even if it was only a sixth of the time other other has spent there. But that didn't make Zack feel warm toward the man who was trying his damnedest to squeeze all the air from his lungs.

There was something predatory behind Valentine's gaze. A monster was calculating behind the glow of mako-tainted blood eyes, even while he was squeezing the life from another. But, Zack acknowledged, he wasn't gunna just lay down and die, especially when he hadn't done a damn thing wrong.

Swinging his head back, Zack fiercely smashed his head into Vincent's head. Even if the guy was on the verge of warping back into a monster, Zack wouldn't go down without a fight.

Vincent's fingers went slack, and Zack quickly pulled himself away, holding his throat and gasping for air that he didn't really need too much of. "What... the fuck... was that for!? I'm trying... to give your prick ass a bath and... you try to kill me. I'm not... fucking... Hojo; get your... shit together." Gasping between words, Zack noticed that the man didn't look the slightest ruffled, even with his own blood mixing with that of the dragon from earlier.

"I was unconscious... I do not see why you decided to take it upon yourself to disarm my person." Vincent would have looked vaguely terrifying if not for his faint gargling of his own blood. Served him right.

However, the man raised his arm, the one that had been encased by the gauntlet, and sighed. Zack could see what the man was looking at. There were weird scars from the collarbone down, almost like a jigsaw puzzle that was roughly shoved together with pieces that didn't fully fit. There were bits of skin that had been sown above others, while patches were old, yet at the same time new. Skin grafts? Zack couldn't be sure, but whatever it was left Zack feeling vaguely ill.

Vincent didn't look too much better. "I am... a monster. He was correct in the assumption." Zack wasn't sure who 'he' was, but Vincent mulled over whatever he was thinking by himself, not leaving Zack much to go on.

He thought about being a good guy and leaving; Zack just rubbed his throat with one hand, pulling on his pocket with the other. Saying something would cause more attention on himself, and the ex-SOLDIER wasn't exactly sure that was what he wanted. Angering a Turk who could obviously hold himself up well against a fully trained and enhanced SOLDIER First Class didn't sound like a good idea, let alone a safe one. The man was already on edge, ready to strike out against Zack with little hesitation. Damn it that Zack had just been trying to be nice. He had essentially violated some sort of code that Vincent had, and if it hadn't been for the fact that the man was unusually calculated while angry or filled with any emotions, Zack was sure he would have already been drowned in the tub.

"Will you speak of this to anyone?" Vincent interrupted, breaking Zack free from his rather deep thoughts.

"You trying to kill me?" Zack countered, "Or about the whole 'turning a brutal creature into a chew toy'? Because, while I can probably pretend like you didn't just try to kill me, I don't think we can keep Fluffy from being found out. Even if I didn't tell anyone about it, Cloud knows."

"Will Cloud speak of it?" Vincent asked, his eyes glancing to the closed door, almost waiting, it seemed, for the blond to waltz in with the others following behind him. Zack knew Cloud better than Vincent though, and he sighed dramatically. The dark man looked away when he realized that Zack was shaking his head. "Will he speak of it," he said again.

"Probably not. You'd have to ask him not to, however. And it'll be a bitch to convince him that you aren't going to rip anyone's head off in their sleep. No matter what he looks like, he's dead strong and could take you down. Maybe. If he really tried, I'm sure he could. However, I don't think any of us could go against you in that... thing. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you that, self-preservation so the think in you doesn't decide we're a bunch of free meals, but..."

"Galian is locked in the chasms of my mind. He will not be returning for quite some time... it had been nearly thirty years since one of the demons have broken free from their prisons in my mind. It shall not happen again."

_'Demons in my mind'? Wait, there's more than one of them? How the fuck can there be more than one of them?_ "How many of those things do you have up in that loaf of yours? Because one alter ego that turns into a demon is plenty. There can't possibly be _more_," Zack attempted to smile, but it came out more as a half grimace. "There can't be, right?"

Vincent, whose composure seemed to be lost in the circumstances surrounding the moment, sighed. His lips curled down as he reached for his clothing. Zack, his head not completely straight yet, looked down at the dirty ground, the dust bunnies in the corner capturing his, albeit tiny, attention span. The staring surprisingly made his head hurt a little less. A small comfort considering the entire situation.

Vincent looked at his bloody shirt and with less than a thought dropped it to the ground, reaching for his zipper, slowly unzipping the material and unbuttoning the material. Vincent said nothing, however his eyes seemed to hint to Zack that it was rude to stare.

"Oh! Sorry," Zack said as he turned around, letting the man remove the last pieces of his clothing. "I, um. I should get going. Find Cloud and tell him not to, well, you're sure you aren't going to morph into that thing again? Because I'll surely stay in here if you think it'll happen. I don't _want _to be in here, but if you suddenly drown or take form into that thing again, I don't think it'll be possible to keep the secret. Well, maybe if you drowned, but it would be bad if that happened." Zack stared at the wall in trepidation.

Something sounded from behind him, and Zack could tell that the man was slinking himself into the water. Vincent said nothing, but Zack really didn't think he particularly needed an answer. Being in the room was uncomfortable enough; the ex-SOLDIER didn't particularly want Vincent to think that he was attracted to him. Better to keep his head toward the wall.

"So, I'm sure you want to get cleaned up. I'll send Cloud in here with your clothes. I'm sure he doesn't want to look at your bits and pieces." Zack stood, his head giving a nasty throb, though he was lucky not to fall over or hit his head against something again. No matter how many times Angeal had told him that his head wasn't a good weapon, the lesson never really sank in. Maybe, he thought sourly as he gingerly ran his hand over the small bump that was luckily receding back into his skull.

"I will keep my silence as long as you two do as well."

Zack's hand, which had been reaching for the doorknob to let himself out, stopped short. His throat tightened and a flash of Cloud's face came into view. Tifa's lips on Cloud's... Jealousy. Fury. Hatred. Cloud didn't deserve that. But what a price...

"I will yield if you do not speak of it. Neither of you bring up the incident, and what I have seem will be forgotten."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Zack said thickly. His entire body didn't really want to comply.

There was a slight scratching and Zack thought to turn around, however the gauntlet was tickling the corner of his cheek, ghosting across the skin. "I have repented, and will continue to do so. There is little left for me to live for—the death of Hojo being one of my few purposes for a continued existence." Zack felt the gauntlet prick his cheek, and a small platter of blood dripped down, reminiscent of a tear. "Yet I am still a here," Vincent continued, softly. Zack could almost feel the man's breath on his cheek, and he held in a reflexive shudder of fear. SOLDIERs didn't fear.

"I'll talk to Cloud about it," Zack said, his voice surprisingly strong.

"There will be no talking. You will comply."

_Fuck. _

"I'll talk to Cloud about it."

"Who do you think keeps the demons at bay?"

"Threatening my friends is not a way of gaining any favors, Vincent. I don't understand your—" Zack stopped as the nail dug deeper into his face, and Vincent laughed, cold and harsh...wait. There was something in Vincent's voice, husky, but not from lack of use.

A tongue darted against the shell of his ear, and Zack this time didn't resist the urge to shudder. This wasn't Vincent— it couldn't have been.

"I don't get out often, but it is ever so fun to toy with the humans. But. Little boy, do you think it wise to attempt to challenge me? I cannot kill you, nor your little _lover_," the demon spit the last word out like poison,"But do not doubt that I am well-equipped to kill your little 'friends' without so much as a blow. Vincent may have a grudging respect for your and your kind, but I do not. Play your game, and allow me my pleasure to rid this planet of one beast before I go. Nothing will stand in my way."

"You almost sound like one of the good guys," Zack tried to straighten his back out, but the demon applied a bit of pressure to his head, making it move to the side. Zack could almost see the silhouette of the demon, barely being able to sort out that there was a pair of wings sprouting from its back.

The demon chuckled, though Zack couldn't sense any humor from it. "Do not jest with me, little boy. I have no side, but my own. I do not care for morality nor right and wrong. There is just a means to an end. Do not get me wrong-- I will kill Hojo, but not to be hailed as all glorious and heroic. You may desire such a title, but both Vincent and I have loathed that for as long as we have existed. Co-existed. I do it for my own selfish desire to be free."

"And you can't figure out a better way than coming with us?"

"It will be the easiest mode of transportation. Vincent, as many experiments that have befallen him, is still remotely human. His body may be chilled, and his heart isn't a true heart, but he can die. You and I will work to keep that from happening. I've been doing my part for thirty years. You just need to help me to the last step, and that will me the end."

While Zack was a SOLDIER, he still had a heart. He hadn't known Vincent for long, and though the man was clearly and irrevocably tortured with demons and whatever shit was floating up in his brain, Zack most certainly didn't want the guy to die.

"It will not kill him, but I am sure he would finish the job shortly after. He's strong-willed, but at the same time so very human. All humans are fragile little things; they can hope to move mountains, but will still manage to kill themselves by breathing in the very air. Don't you think?"

Zack grunted his response. "Sure, whatever..."

"You may call me Chaos. I do not suggest you forget it. On the rare occasion that I come forward, we will continue this chat. However, as that annoying blonde boy you are so enamored with will be returning in a few moments, I believe I will return Vincent to his tub. Do not forget what we have spoken of. It would be best if you were able to sleep without fear that I wake and decide to kill your friends. Silence..."

* * *

**Shorter chapter, but I figured you'd want it before the next year! I'm sorry for it taking so long... School is beating me up pretty good, but I'm sure you don't want me complaining. **

**Please Review!**


	68. Promise

Author Notes; Just finally got all of my college applications done, so now I should have a little more free time, which is good. Thank you all for sticking with me through this kind of sucky time. It will get better, I promise.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life: the end.

* * *

Chapter Sixty Six: Promise

Zack expected some yelling, perhaps a fist flying in his general direction, a broken nose when he suggested that Cloud and he stay silent about Vincent's condition. It was dangerous, and Cloud only knew part of it. He wasn't aware that the beasts could come out when they pleased, or at least that Chaos could do so. Nor did he really know the true terror that the beast could instill with little trouble. Zack could still feel his skin prickling uncomfortably across his neck and chest, a reminder of those clammy claws against it. But, Cloud was surprisingly calm and controlled over the situation.

Vincent may have been a Turk, and those were bad enough, but nothing counted against his record quite as much as being able to turn into a flying, murderous monster that didn't particularly mind going against its host. Host... Vincent was a man who was stuck with beasties going bump in his head.

Cloud wanted to tell the others that Vincent wasn't fully human. He did, and voiced it quite loudly to Zack. They weren't on equal footing, at least in Cloud's mind. He didn't know that Chaos wouldn't be pleased if they told. So, Zack did the only thing that he thought would work. Cloud was stubborn and hard-headed, but even _he_ had to have a weak spot, somewhere.

"Please, Cloud. We can't go around and tell people that Vincent's got some transformation gig going on with him. I mean, we need him. He doesn't want to hurt us, and we don't want to hurt him, right?"

"He could kill us in our sleep and not even know about it. We were afraid to put him in the bath—what do you think it'll be like if he really gets injured? Or scared—"

Zack rolled his eyes. "Turks don't get scared."

"Regardless," the blonde answered, coolly. "What happens if he goes insane and wipes out an entire town? Let's not forget that we both know it is completely possible for one man to do that kind of damage." Cloud looked at the bathroom door, which Zack had ejected him from when the boy had come back. Zack didn't want Cloud near Vincent right now, even if he was currently pleading his case in the middle of the hallway. "Are we going to be responsible for another Nibelheim? Because Zack ,I already have enough dead souls in my hands. I don't want any more."

Cloud's face, he noticed, was pale, marred with a frown and a thin crease across his forehead. The boy's hands were clenched shut, and there was a tremor to them. Nibelheim was even more of a forbidden topic thanks to it still existing in its falsity. This wasn't his battle, not fully. Even if Zack wanted to take some of the blonde's anguish, it just wasn't possible. He could only hope to somehow ease the pain in the only way he knew how. So, it wasn't surprising that his body reacted, pulling Cloud close, tucking his head below Zack's chin. Cloud liked being held, like any other human, but didn't particularly enjoy the fact that he was still short, and probably wouldn't grow any taller.

Cloud didn't have to say anything about how he was feeling, because Zack knew. Disappointment, because Nibelheim truly no longer was home; shame because he couldn't do anything about it; anger because he felt weak and powerless. Zack knew Cloud felt that way because those were the emotions he felt when he saw Gongaga, the trees bent, the forest destroyed, his family home replaced by a false imitation. But, at least then, he still had his community, the heart of his home. Cloud had Tifa.

Zack did not envy Tifa in that regard, though he still wished that he could have been that important connection to Cloud's past. Cloud had once told him that Tifa had just been a girl that he had a crush on, but never was close with. She was on a level he had no right to come near because his family had never been rich. His father never existed, or if he did Cloud never knew. Kysen was a strong-willed woman, but not even she could have protected her son from biased children. Zack had to deal with the stigma that half of the children his age or a little older were possibly his half-siblings, but that only made him more accepted. He was family, and in Gongaga that was all that mattered.

"Nothing'll happen. I know I wanted to tell, at first. But, I think we should give him a chance." Zack wistfully glanced at the spikes rubbing against his cheek. "It'll be all right, I think. He...explained some stuff to me. He doesn't lose it often—it seems like that was the first time in thirty years—"

"He was also locked in a box, Zack. Holy knows what that did to his mind, let alone temperament. We know that there is something inside of him that does not like humanity—I don't see why it is so difficult for you to accept that we can't keep him. He's not a stray, and I don't believe we should risk it."

"Bah, boxes, real world? Where's the difference, Cloud? It's not like the real world doesn't trap you and strangle the life from you."

"Zack, that doesn't matter. Fight better if you want him to stay, because at this moment I'll be asking him to leave. If he doesn't, I'll forcibly remove him."

Cloud pulled himself away, eyes bright. The ex-SOLDIER wanted to laugh at how serious the blonde looked, but refrained. The stress-lines around his eyes were drawn, and his hands curled into tight fists. But, he was holding back... Zack wanted to know why.

"I expected you to fight a lot harder to get rid of him, Cloud. You don't find, but why don't you want him to leave? Really, I don't understand why you're being so... damn compliant. You haven't punched me, or threatened my health, or even said anything brash. And yeah, before you go on, I'm aware I'm the king of all brash conversations."

"I said I didn't want him gone, Fair. You don't seem to want him around, if you're pleading with me to come up with a better answer as to why he shouldn't stay. What's your motive to wanting him gone? Or do you just like fighting with me?" Cloud's voice raised to a crescendo before crashing against Zack. Cloud's body went rigid and his eyes turned their spiteful green. His hair, already standing on end in its gravity-defying spikes, seemed to become charged with static.

"Cloud... are you all right?" Zack asked, his feet taking a step closer, though his brain was telling him to take a step back. The boy was shaking, only mildly so, but the slight convulsions sent worry down his spine. What if he made Cloud snap?

The air was thick, like the air outside of the small safe-house. It spelled like mako and metal. Tangy, coppery, deadly. Not Cloud. That wasn't Cloud.

Cloud's face went slack as the door to the bathroom opened, Vincent stepping out, the air suddenly chilling. Zack gave the barest of glances to Vincent, who was dressed in some of his pajamas, luckily large enough to cover the man.

Cloud's eyes were back to their blue, and the boy seemed almost confused for a moment before snapping out of his own trance. Zack tried not to look away from the boy as much as he could.

"They fit?" Zack asked, rubbing at his scalp. "I'm not too sure of your size and you'd drown in Barret's clothes."

Cloud crossed his arms, his eyes not straying from Valentine. Zack wanted to pinch the boy, make him look the other way, because really, it wasn't a good idea to piss off the ex-Turk. Cloud was hardly ready to deal with Chaos if it came down to it.

_That's not true. He could handle it. He's grown so much in the last couple months. I didn't want him to grow up because then I'd have to admit to all the horrible stuff that's happened to him, that I wasn't able to stop it. He should be twenty one, probably a SOLIDER First-Class, with girls hanging from his arms. Instead, he got me and a broken head. But,_ Zack conceded,_ he's stronger than I give him credit for. And, I don't have any idea what is up with him. What exactly __**was**__ that? He's been doing that a lot recently. It can't be normal. It just isn't possible. I...I cannot begin to understand._

So, maybe he could deal with Chaos, but the ex-SOLDIER was hardly willing to simply hand the blonde over to the raging maniacs inside of Vincent's head. That would have happened, Zack was sure, if he wasn't able to convince Cloud to back off. And, whatever was going on with Cloud was far more important, in the long run. For all Zack knew, Vincent would run off tonight into the sunset. Cloud wasn't going to be leaving that quickly.

The blonde let his elbow scrape at the wall behind him, his fingers picking at the material of his shirt. There was indecision in his blue eyes, which were steely. Ice blue eyes, the color eerily bright. "I don't trust you. I don't trust your body; I don't trust your mind. Understand that, accept it, because it's not going to be changing any time soon. You haven't proven anything to me except that you're dangerous and possibly lethal. However," Cloud blinked, his eyelids wiping against his cheek, "I'm not gunna say anything right now. It has nothing to do with trust, because you make one move..." Cloud didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he jerked his head to the side.

Vincent stared, blood-red eyes smoldering. Zack didn't like that look; it was too possessive, to angry and enthralled by darkness. It was almost as if Vincent's eyes were a gateway into his torn and shared soul.

"I accept your conditions," the man said cordially, bending his neck in a brief bow. The movement wasn't new to Zack, who had spent almost two years on missions in Wutai. This wasn't the mark of respect, but the mark of annoyance. It also, Zack knew, held another purpose. The brief movements were sharp, which contrasted starkly to what Zack was taught as submissive movements. Wutai was a proud country, and though harsh contacts were common, it became less so as Shinra slowly modernized the inhabitants. Wutai did not fully break, its neck bowed in submission, until Sephiroth...Sephiroth, the _Demon_.

Zack held back a shiver. Sephiroth in his maddened state was so very much like Chaos. Except, the ebony-haired man admitted, Vincent didn't have an obsession with his mommy, space junk, evil goddess, whatever. JENOVA.

Zack knew, however, that Vincent had something more to say. The man's shoulders were drawn back and his eyebrows lowered, and it seemed almost as if he were placing a puzzle piece together in his mind. That mind, Zack was now positive, was filled with craters and bloody messes, much like the man's arm was after the dragon mauled it. The wound was still there, shimmering with gore. He had wrapped it, but Zack was sure that the man would need to visit Aeris if he wanted it to heal sooner, rather than later.

"Anything you need to say?" Cloud beat Zack to the punch, casually looking at the gunner.

Vincent, instead, glared. "Absolutely nothing."

"Then I suggest you go see Aeris. See if she can put some stitches in your arm." Cloud said the last few words low. Needles were topics that were generally frowned upon by Hojo's experiments. "She's gentle..." Cloud added, though Vincent had already turned and streaked down the hallway, leaving nothing but a cold feeling in Zack and Cloud's marrow in his wake.

* * *

"Tifa, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Zack folded his hands in his pockets and smiled at the woman, who gave him a wary and critical eye. He knew that she didn't particularly like him all that much. Maybe it wasn't total dislike, but more on the line of Cloud. Everything had to do with Cloud, for that matter. Zack couldn't find it in him to feel bad, however. Tifa had her chance a million times over as a child. It wasn't his fault that she never asked the blonde out, or so much as acknowledged his existence. She had just been a little girl that Cloud crushed on, yet the feelings hadn't been reciprocated or even noticed until the boy was already far gone.

But, Zack didn't dislike Tifa, no matter how competitive she was in regards to Cloud. She had kissed him back in Cosmo Canyon, but Cloud was kissing him now. They slept in the same bed, though Zack had made sure that Cloud never felt like he was forced into anything. Even if Zack wanted to move fast, he wouldn't. That was the way he worked. He's wait until Cloud initiated it. Kinda like how Tifa initiated kissing Cloud that night...

The woman, her long hair tied in a knot near her neck, swept a hand over her brow. Her skin was sticky with sweat, as she had been working with Aeris to clean up the place, at least marginally so. There was still dirt; it clung to the insides of their mouths like cheap liquor. Yet, it was hardly worthy of mentioning. It could have been so much worse—the place could have not existed, after all. She didn't seem happy speaking with Zack, and looked down as she twisted her hand through her hair.

"Well, I'm not going to stop you," she finally muttered after a pause. She pushed herself a few inches further away when Zack sat down next to her, eyes heatedly staring at the opposite wall. "Is there a reason?"

"What, I can't just talk to one of my favorite girls?" Zack asked, though he attempted to smother the anxiety in his voice. This was important, and he couldn't mess up.

Tifa took a deep breath in and leaned back against the wall. "What is it, Zack?"

Zack contemplated his words. He didn't want to tell Tifa outright, and he didn't want to hurt the woman by letting her have her false dreams. But, was it his place to say anything?

He had a lot on his mind, flitting to and fro within his brain. Little squiggly lines labeled with names and colors, all of Zack's memories and emotions, all ideas and hopes: that was the condition his head was in. Tifa was, Zack imagined, a bright yellow. He didn't know why he picked that sunshine bright hue for the woman. Zack didn't really like or dislike the color. But, he certainly liked Tifa, to a point. It involved Cloud's line, as well.

"I wanted to tell you that I was sorry."

Zack felt his breath catch in his throat. What?

Tifa continued. "I'm sorry for thinking that you'd want to be with Cloud. I've just been feeling so jumbled, so odd and confused. I kissed him," she mentioned, off hand. "It was... well, never mind what it felt like for me, because that isn't the point. The point is that I shouldn't have kissed Cloud because he probably wasn't ready for that kind of movement. And, it was silly of me for thinking that he would want you."

Zack felt shame, then agitation, before finally melting into anger. It was silly, _silly_, for Cloud to want him? Was it because of his perpetual childishness? Or the fact that he wasn't a woman? Or, perhaps, it was the fact that he was Zack, the best friend?

The black-haired man barely held in his fronted look. "I don't really get what you mean." Maybe she meant something else? Like, Cloud was still feeling like a teenage boy?

"Well, what I mean is..." Tifa actually came closer, arms crossed, "I don't think he'd be your type, anyway. And, if he was, I don't think you're his type," she said this matter-of-factly, almost as if she was trying to lay the point onto the ground like a battle plan. "I know you were with Reno; by this point, I think anyone who isn't aware is lacking some substantial brain waves. And, that's okay." It didn't seem okay to Tifa.

"I'm gunna guess that you don't like the fact that I'm partially a faggot, right? Is that the issue here?"

Tifa winced, eyes going wide. "I meant nothing like that, Zack. Honestly!" the woman begged, reaching out to touch his arm. "I didn't mean it like that, I promise. It's just... Cloud isn't that way. And I don't care if you were gay or not."

Zack nudged himself over a little to the side, Tifa's hand going limp. "So, what's the issue with me?"

Tifa's hand wavered before she pulled back, placing her fingers under her armpit. "I don't have an issue with you Zack! Really, I like you. You're a good guy with a good heart. Sure, you've made some mistakes, but so have the rest of us."

Zack snorted, bitterly, as he stood up, leaving the woman on the floor. "I'll have you know that I never once regretted Reno. But, Reno has nothing to do with this. What do you mean?"

Tifa's eyes sharpened, a loud bang reverberating through the computer room. "Cloud and I kissed, and there were sparks. Not little sparks, mind you. Large, catastrophically enormous ones. I don't think it was just me, either. Plus, Zack, Cloud always had a crush on me. I felt bad that I didn't realize until after he left, but it's still all there, I'm sure. He still looks at me with his eyes that bright blue. You might not know the look, but it's one that just begs for someone to love him. And so, I did. I love him, Zack. That's why I don't think you and he would be compatible—I love him, and he loves me. Plus, Cloud's never once even hinted at being, well..."

"Like me?" Zack wanted to cry, break something, and scream at the same time. Tifa didn't mean to harm him, he was sure. In fact, she thought she was apologizing for her previous actions. But, she didn't know that Zack's kisses were not only intimate and passionate, but reciprocated. She was being nice, trying to excuse herself, but all she was doing was making Zack feel guilty and angry. So, so very angry.

"Don't talk down to yourself," Tifa wobbly stood, her legs stressed with her weight. She seemed tired, dragging herself around. "You were just... being you. Anyway, I just wanted to say sorry for mistreating you. I don't think Cloud would appreciate that I acted like I did. And, I love him, and I know he cares about you. You're our leader, and I'll follow you."

It was as if a weight, brick and steel weighted across his shoulders. She should know. She needed to know that Zack held Cloud close at night, kissing him in the dark. It would be unbearable for her to continue to fall further and further in love with him, only to be told too late. It wasn't fair that life was the way it was, that they both shared such deep emotions for a boy—man.

"Tifa, I'm so sorry," Zack began. Anger melting into stinging pity.

The woman's face tilted to the side. "Don't be, Zack. I'm happy. For the first time in so long I feel whole. Now I just have to wait until Cloud's ready for that sort of thing. I understand that the...mind gap. He's not ready to be with anyone right now." And, slowly, a bright smile spread across the woman's face.

And he couldn't say anything. Nothing at all.

* * *

It took three nights to fully travel down the mountain, back to the flat lands. The journey had not been pleasant; rather, Zack mused, it had been worse. Vincent still slunk in the background, aiding the group in more ways than one (he had shot the eyes out of a scorpion-like monster Cloud had dubbed Materia Keeper after the materia embedded into its skin, as well as casting a well-needed barrier in front of Cloud and Zack during an evasive attack by roaming Dragons), and luckily he had not once again changed into his beast-like form. It almost seemed, Zack had mused, that Vincent had more control on the beasts than he thought.

But, Vincent was a silent and deadly hero. Aeris had taken to peeking over her shoulder by the second day, looking for Vincent's face in the darkness. There was something in her clear green eyes, almost a remembrance of the man. Has she met him before? Highly improbable, considering the fact that he had been locked in that coffin for years. Unless...

"Aeris, when you were in custody when you were a child," Zack had began the night he noticed Aeris's wandering eyes.

The woman rubbed the sole of her foot with cold water, humming a small tune under her breath, but looked up when Zack puttered. The humming stopped, and Zack cold hear a small intake of breath. "What about it?" she said softly, without enthusiasm.

"Was Valentine there?"

Aeris's eyes went wide with thought for a moment, but she shrugged. "Not that I remember. I was somewhere very much like Nibelheim for a short while when I was really young, before I was transferred to Midgar. All I remember is my cell, the small garden one of the interns had next door. They wold leave me in there sometimes. I think they knew of my connection to the Planet before I did." She laughed without humor before continuing. "But, no. I don't think I'd ever seen Vincent Valentine before."

Zack considered asking her if she felt odd around him, but Aeris answered before he could. "I think that there's something with him...not fully human." She shook the water from her hand, stopping her ministrations. There was a drip of water that splattered from her hand to her face, and Zack almost reached forward to wipe it off. He didn't, however. Aeris and he were finally becoming close again, and the last thing he wanted to do was drive another wedge between them.

Aeris wiped the droplet off with the back of her hand rather harshly.

"Not human, eh?"

_Tell anyone about Vincent and I'm toast. _

"Well, He probably isn't any more," Zack said, thinking of how he would properly word the next sentence. "He's a lot like Cloud and me. Hojo got his paws into us, gave us these bodies," Zack pat his chest in explanation, "and we just can't age. The guy's been locked up in a coffin for about three decades. He'd be one ugly, skull sucked in and gray haired old man if he was human."

There hadn't been any issues after that, and Zack was grateful. Vincent seemed to subconsciously understand that no one was going to squeal on his mind fucked problem, and Chaos stayed safe and warm inside of his head.

Cloud, at first, refused to sleep in the same tent as the man. The blonde instead slept in the tent with Barret, who didn't mind the company too much, though he did mention to Tifa the next day that Cloud had a problem with tossing and turning. Vincent had to sleep in the same tent as him and Cloud because he wanted to keep an eye on the man. Cloud wasn't thrilled, but on the second night he surrendered.

It wasn't too bad of a trip, in all. There was food, blankets, and Zack was still able to sneak in small kisses to Cloud while in the tent. It was a bit difficult at first, because Vincent barely slept (or if he did, he looked like he was awake). Cloud once, in a bit of frustration, mentioned that he thought Vincent may have been a voyeur. That night the man had turned himself in a way which guaranteed that he and Zack had a little peace. They didn't do anything, however. It wasn't really right, and a bit creepy.

It took two days to cross the flatlands near Rocket Town. Sephiroth was auspiciously absent from the roads, and Cait Sith (perched on Yuffie's head), gave the eccentric reply that the man probably was able to poof in and out of existence. They didn't know the full extent of Jenova's power, so it wasn't too far off the mark.

Yuffie was slowly integrating herself back into the team, but the paisley scarf was still wrapped around her face on days where there wasn't any wind. She once attempted to get close to the gunman, but backed of rather quickly once he grabbed his gun and began to fire off rounds into the distance. It took the girl a few moments of hyperventilated panic to realize he was shooting at the Kyuvilduns in the distance, and didn't have any plans to be shooting at her.

An interesting find happened on the third morning on the flatlands. Red, who had taken to scanning the area when he was on watch duty with Barret, had been sniffing the area a mile or so away only to find a smoldering fire and the tell-tale tracks of a solitary person camping. The place smelled of Mako, heady like a SOLDIER, and the tracks were still relatively fresh. Sephiroth had been camping not a mile away an hour before Red had shown up.

"It is odd," the red-furred beast said between licks of his bowl of porridge. "I hadn't smelled him following us, and I am usually able to tell with mako-infused beings. At least a mile and a half. I should have been able to smell the fire, as well. So, the only solution to that I have been able to find is that Sephiroth has learned in his time in Wutai how to Barrier an area of land. This is not good."

"Why ain't we using this shit?" Barret tossed his bowl down, turned off his safety, and fired a few rounds into the air, a spectacle of his anger. "You wuz' in Wutai. Why ain't you been using this shit?"

Cloud growled, "You're a moron," he said, snarling. "I know what Barrier does, and it doesn't surprise me in the least that that is how Sephiroth is getting around. I learned Barriering a long time ago, before I was sent over to Wutai, and it's not easy. Remember, Zack? Remember how much magic had to be put into casting it? It took all the strength of a normal SOLDIER to keep it up for even an hour."

Zack felt his mouth go dry, but didn't understand why. The others were looking at him, lost, but Zack just nodded. "Cloud's right," he said, and Tifa's eyebrow rose into her hairline. Some didn't seem to be bothered by the information that Cloud had released. "We can't do it right now, because none of us have as much power as Sephiroth. Now, we can set up a small discharge barrier at the corners of camp to alert us of when anyone casts magic outside of the campsite, but it's not going to do too much. Those things malfunction all the time because the air is so saturated with mako. We're better off keeping guards."

And that was exactly what they did until they reached Rocket Town. They avoided the five local towns like they were a plague; if Sephiroth was following after them, it would be a massacre. No one complained. In fact, no one even mentioned the idea of spending the night in Romfre, the second largest town. The town was staunchly against Shinra, which wouldn't help if they were attacked by Sephiroth in the dead of night with Fire materia and his Masamune. The only place safe to camp out was Rocket Town. Sephiroth wouldn't dare touch the place; it was still swarming with SOLDIERs and Intelligence agencies with their eyes toward Wutai's borders. Even after five years the Shinra were weary of rebels.

They checked into the Shanghai inn the moment they stepped into the town. It was a decent place with an amazing scenery of the tilted Rocket which the town was named after. It was still a tourist trap, Zack knew, but that made it all the easier to blend into the tourists. Barret and Red were the most difficult to hide in a town with so many people who knew their faces. Especially Barret's gun and Red's... beastness. Those were not simple things to hide.

Rufus was in town, as well, which made everything far more difficult in nature. Yuffie, perhaps the safest person to be walking around town because she wasn't as well-known of a member, had been able to sneak with Vincent (paisley over her face) to the local bars, which told them the same news: the President was looking for a plane to get somewhere. Zack wasn't really sure of where, because the President had been extremely vague on his part.

"You know," Yuffie said as she grabbed Cait's head, holding him close like a stuffed animal. The girl seemed almost inseparable with the mechanical cat. Tifa had told Zack, whom she now trusted (Zack tried to distance himself from the woman because of all the...conflicting...emotions), that Yuffie had the little ball of fur living with them in the girls' tent. It was because Tifa thought the girl was lonely and needed a friend.

"What don't I know?" Zack asked, pulling back the curtain to the window. There were about fifty MPs and a smattering of SOLDIERs littering the street in front of the inn. The President's car was parted in front of a large house near the rocket, and two men stood next to the door, where Rufus's blonde hair and white suit clashed with the shrubbery surrounding the house. On his left, as far as Zack could see, was Tseng, and on the other was...

Red hair.

Reno was with the President?

"You listening to me?" Yuffie interrupted Zack's thoughts.

"Uh, sure." Shutting the curtains, Zack looked back over to the girl. She was spread over the side of the bed, arms and legs dangling off of the sides. Cait was perched on her stomach, attempting to groom himself. The papers fluttering from his mouth showed that the mechanical cat kept hitting a switch somewhere as it tried to lick itself. "You're spewing fortunes everywhere," Zack pointed out.

Yuffie huffed and leaned up, removing the cat's fortunes from the red and blue comforter and her dark green sweater. Her arm guard rested next to the bed, shuriken on the pillow. There was a bag of her stuff, Zack didn't know or want to know, lying half-open next to it, a sponge and candy spilled out on the wood. She dumped the papers between the bed and the nightstand, effectively hiding it from view. "He's been doin' that for a couple a' days." The girl laid back down and placed Cait back on her stomach.

"Huh, I hadn't noticed."

Zack could have swore that Cait's eyes rolled back for a moment, but the mechanical cat said nothing, though it did stop licking its paws.

"So, what're you talking about?"

Yuffie grabbed a pillow from above her and shoved the soft down under her head, propping herself up. "There's a guy here. They call him "Captain." He's the guy we need to talk to. If Sephi-bastard wants to go anywhere using the sky, this nut'll know. I've heard some crazy stuff about the guy: carries around a spear and likes to threaten Shinra scum-balls with 'em." Yuffie's face broke into a smile. "Blames this lady he's livin' with because the rocket won't go up. Spits and curses and I think they said he even once told the old Prez that he'd cut the guy's nuts off and feed 'em to little Rufus." With this she outright snickered.

Zack noticed that Cait was suddenly much more interested in the conversation at hand. "You know this man's name, Lass?" If there could have been a devious face on a robot, that would have been it, Zack was sure. Something was up with Mr. Cat.

Yuffie sighed, raising her arms above her head before rolling over, Cait flying off the edge of the bed. "Oops, sorry," the girl muttered, but she only rolled back over and looked back to Zack. "Not a damn clue. Though, that's why Vampy and Aeris went out a little while ago. To talk to the lady this Captain guy's living with. They should be back soon. Don't ask me when, cuz' I don't know. Now, will ya leave so I can take a nap?"

The girl's cranky attitude was emerging. No one was ever able to get much out of the girl after that. No matter how mature (but usually immature) the girl acted, she would still be a teenager.

Tossing her a half-hearted wave, Zack left the room, leaning down to pick up Cait Sith, who was mewling piteously about hormonal teenagers. The cat struggled and attempted to claw out Zack's eye, so the ebony-haired man dropped it back to the ground, hearing the clatter of mechanical parts. "Suit yourself," he muttered before leaving the room, making sure the door was tightly shut.

Zack didn't know why the girl had decided to commandeer his and Cloud's room. She had a perfectly fine room all to herself next door. It was even three rooms away from Vincent and Barret. Red, who tended to sleep on whatever piece of floor was closer to the window, still said that he couldn't understand what Yuffie was smelling.

For a moment Zack contemplated going downstairs to get some food, but the idea was quickly squashed. The Shanghai inn was surrounded by Shinra grunts, and the fight to get food really wasn't worth the hassle. Instead Zack knocked on Barret and Vincent's door, knowing that Barret was with Tifa and Red, and Vincent was with Aeris.

As he expected, no one answered the door.

In a last-ditch effort, Zack smacked the door knob with his fist.

Nothing.

Leaning against the door, Zack allowed himself to skid down onto the hard, wooden floor.

This was shaping up to be a boring day, and he couldn't even sleep through it. For a moment he wished that something, or someone would make it interesting.

So, when he heard bullets flying through the town, Zack jumped up, ran back to his room (still occupied by a whining teenager) and grabbed his sword.

This at least was something.

* * *

**And before you ask: yes, there are a lot of things in this chapter that are important. I didn't throw them in to be filler, trust me. Anyway, once again, I'm sorry for taking so long, and I hope you all don't hate me too much for waiting. Now...**

**Please Review!**


	69. Children

Author Notes: I don't think a lot of you liked the last chapter... let's see if this one is better, hm? And I'm sorry, not a lot of Cid in this chapter. We'll get to all of it next chapter, neh?

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Children

Zack could almost feel the gun-powder, tangy in the air. The smell of sulfur invaded the town's dampened atmosphere, but there was also the far-away smell of ocean water and old fuel. Rocket Town's grime and dirt was thick, like a blanket of dirt and rust. But, the gun-powder didn't really seem to fit, a jagged edge that Zack could not fully understand. It stood out, a little too different, a little too strong.

If it hasn't been for Yuffie running after him, screaming something intelligible (Zack could have said that it was a Wutaian chant before war, but having been part of the war, he couldn't place it with either the main city named after its country, or the towns that dotted the western coast, where he had spent most of his time), Zack could have sworn that no one cared that Shinra were firing at something. Not even knowing--or caring--what Shinra was shooting at, Zack wanted to be down there. Nothing was going to stop the soldiers from attacking whatever they were attacking, unless an ex-SOLDIER stood up to the plate and acted, rather than waiting around with his thumbs in his ass.

"No, no! You can't just go running off like that, Zack! You're gunna get yourself shot and I'm gunna have to explain to everyone why you're dead and _oooooh,_ boy. Please don't make me do that-- I'm only sixteen: I'm still a kid, and I can't be going off and explaining why you're all riddled with holes!" the girl ranted, Cait in one hand (she had left behind her arm-brace in favor of the mechanical cat) and her weapon in the other. There was a small tear in her green shirt from where she had, in her haste, tried to run with her shuriken with her hands full.

Zack thought she was lucky that she didn't slice off something.

"What if it's one of our friends? What if they found Cloud or Tifa or Aeris, and are shooting them full of lead? Do you think that I won't be of help? Think I'm gunna stand around while my friends fight and die, just waiting and waiting and waiting for it to be safe?" Zack swung his sword experimentally, feeling the steel slide through the wall like water. Just a straight line, perfect in its destructiveness.

His feet moved quickly down the stairs of the inn, only a few heads poking from their rooms. The tourists didn't seem to understand what was going on; neither did Zack, but that didn't matter. The people, when noticing the ex-SOLDIER stalking down their hallways, long weapon shining like the moon and eyes burning with violet-crystal, made a mad dash to closing their doors, barricading themselves in from the man, only to open it when he was far enough away from their door.

"What is that boy doing?"

"Look at that sword!"

"Mama, get away from that door or he's going to gut you for staring."

"But, do you see those eyes? They're SOLDIER eyes, so help me Shiva!"

Zack's eye twitched, and he ignored it. It wasn't like they were doing that well of a job hiding from Shinra, anyway. If they had found one of the others, he may as well cause as much stress as possible. It could just mean that someone was weak enough to be tossed out of their room so that they had a place to hide again for a little while. That was important enough to dare show his face to anyone: put the fear or Gaia in them. Make them think twice about staring or sneering.

SOLIDER did its job well, but the public did an even better job of making a tiny problem into an exacerbated and feverish nightmare. That was the way that people work, and the company that he had aspired to work for through his childhood, the place of home and solstice and prosperity. The people that were currently shooting up a town that already hated the government and their unwillingness to compromise, to give them funding for their dreams.

"Zack! You have to stop this, right now!" The feverish and delusional attitude from Yuffie was gone. She dropped Cait on the floor (receiving a pained groan and whine), ran and grabbed his wrist, pulling him backwards. "Stop being so childish! You're going to get us all killed if you just run off into that street with no plan. Holy Minerva, could you be any more of a pain?"

Yuffie's hand constricted as Zack attempted to pull away, half-heartedly. "Stop it, Yuffie," he snarled, willing for the girl to drop her hand and get out of the way. What if Cloud was stuck in there? Hurt, in pain, suffering. Zack couldn't bear to look at her face, the fear and seriousness in her eyes. "This is important!"

"You just want to get out of here," she retorted, turning her back, hand still tight against his wrist. He outweighed her by at least seventy pounds, and had more mako in his system than most monsters, but she still tried vehemently to drag him along, back past the staring people, away from the front door of the inn. Away from the sulfur.

The floor was creaking below his boots, and Zack could hear Yuffie's breath, rough in her chest. She was heaving him around, trying to act like she wasn't just a teenage girl with a decent amount of upper body strength, but a woman who could kick his ass into the ground if she didn't like what he was doing. It was endearing, but...

"Zack!" someone yelled from the end of the long, never-ending hallway. the occasional vase on a table, a head stuck out from a door, a tuft of blonde hair that was running his way, followed by two women.

"Listen to the lady, man!" Cait called from below Zack's feet, causing the black-haired man to finally take a look away from the three approaching people. He attempted to scratch his way up Zack's leg, but Zack grunted, lifted up his leg and the dangling cat and shook him off. Cait Sith grunted, but feverishly clung to the pants. "I ain't lettin' you go, Mister! Oh, no! Follow the Miss and don't play nothing coy!"

They must have looked quite a sight, Zack admitted as he looked from automated cat to weapon-wielding girl, to three flocking people, moving a little too quickly to be a composed pace. Was something wrong--of course there was something wrong! People don't simply start shooting at the sky or at birds because it was fun, Zack scolded himself as he finally wretched his arm from the girl. Yuffie didn't seem too bothered; she seemed to be regaining some form of childish composure she usually carried.

"What's going on?" she asked the moment Cloud and the two woman reached them, only to be silenced by Zack's harsh breath.

There was a bullet hole in Cloud's arm, and both Aeris and Tifa looked a little bit worse for wear: a torn sleeve, a ripped dress, a burned hem. It wasn't too bad, considering how many rounds the MPs had been letting loose, but Zack didn't understand why there wasn't more screaming of something.

"What the fuck happened to you guys?" Zack asked, but Cloud shook his head, and made a vague motion to the gathering crowd of busy-bodies that were openly gaping at a bit of blood and ruined clothes.

"Shinra?" Yuffie whispered the question, glancing at the hallway behind them, as if waiting for the whole Shinra army to run down it and capture them. Cait mewled at her feet, but she didn't lean down to grab him. "How'd ya come back lookin' so good if it was them?"

But Cloud shook his head curtly. "Back to the rooms. We'll explain there," he said. A tinge of mako glistened from his wound; his body was already healing up the small wounds on his face, little nicks fading with a splash of the neon color.

"We expecting friends, Cloud?" Zack asked, seriously. If Shinra was going to be breaking down their door any time soon, it would be best that they were already a dozen miles away. More, the ex-SOLDIER preferred as he reached out, grabbing Cloud's chin, turning to see both sides. No one said anything. In fact, Tifa smiled tiredly, he noticed from the corner of his eye.

"No."

"All right, then let's get back up to the rooms. I don't know where the others are--"

"We'll explain that, as well, Zack." Aeris tiredly advanced, green eyes a little darker than usual. Not bright and happy, but not sad or afraid. Just... neutral.

"Fine. Bit, before that, where's Red, Vincent and Barret?"

The two women gave each other looks, and a pit fell inside of Zack's stomach, cold and painful.

"They're not dead, right?" Zack asked with a mixture of confusion, fearing the worst.

"No... But, we shouldn't explain it here. They... they..."

* * *

Aeris sat down on the corner of the bed, rubbing at her cheek with the back of her hand. Zack had made sure to check the woman for any physical injuries; there were none. She had swatted him away, telling him that she was fine, that nothing bad happened to her. She was fine.

"Zack, stop pacing. You're giving me a headache," Cloud said, wincing as Tifa helped him pull his shirt off, the drying blood sticking to his skin and the fabric. There was a hole, though Zack wasn't sure if it was a bullet wound. It looked too clean, and no one seemed to attempt to look for the piece of lead that would have been embedded in his skin. "Just leave it be," Cloud told Tifa, who was reaching forward for a bottle of antiseptic. "The mako's already healing it. And stop pacing, Zack."

Zack growled in frustration. Too many things were circulating in his mind: fear for his friends, anger at the Shinra, confusion as to what happened, and jealousy. _There's no time to be jealous when your friends' lives are in danger. Hormones and love come after finding out what happened to the others. Cloud is alive, even if he hurts a little bit. _

"So," Zack started, feeling his boots dig a little deeper into the floor, passing by Aeris on the bed, Yuffie on the floor next to her, Cloud's ripped shirt on the floor between Zack's pacing area and Cloud and Tifa. There was dirt mussed in Cloud's hair, as if he'd been rolling around on the ground outside tussling with someone. That could have been a possibility for all he knew; why were they being so quiet?

"Damn it," Zack stomped his leather boot down onto the ground, turning to face Aeris, who seemed to be the only person who was willing to explain anything to him. "What's going on?"

Aeris twisted off her jacket, laying it across the bed. "They were captured," her tone was almost conversational, except for her cringe. "They saw me and Cloud walking around the Captain's house with Vincent. He was lurking, and I don't know if they saw him at first. The lady, Shera, had let us in for tea. She didn't know what was going on, and the Captain wasn't there.

"Palmer, that _man_," the flower girl's voice dripped with disdain, something which did not fit her usually calm exterior, "he came barging in, halfway through our tea. There wasn't any time; he had seen us and went flying out of the house as fast as his fat legs could carry him."

Cloud interrupted. "Shera opened the back door, told us to move quickly. The MPs were already beginning to surround the place, and it was difficult to hide in the shrubbery. Vincent pushed Aeris out of the way, into hiding, when Rufus showed up. Said something that none of us could really understand, but I think he knew that no one, besides Hojo, would know who he was. Maybe some Turks, but not the President. They're holding him right now, I think. Over in the small Shinra base. They had began to light the vegetation on fire when we were able to get free and come back here after finding Tifa." Cloud rubbed wearily at his forehead as Tifa fussed with his arm. "It's almost healed, you can stop."

But, Zack watched with a mixture of pity and sorrow, she didn't. "Don't be silly. Mako can only do so much, Cloud, and if you get an infection, it'll only be that much harder to fix. Just stay still and let me finish with this," Tifa stated as she pulled a cotton swab from her bag of medical supplies.

This was part of Tifa, but something in Zack's stomach squelched. Tifa was strong and vibrant, loving and nurturing. But, would this all-consuming love for Cloud make her weak? Would she lose her special spark, the one that Zack knew of since her cow-girl, boot-loving days? Sometimes, he wondered if that was even the same woman, underneath the skin. Or was this benign attitude who the real woman was?

"Barret and Red decided to go after the Shinra that took Vincent. But, there's something weird going on with all of this," Tifa said, her nose crinkling as she spread some pasty green fluid across Cloud's healing wound. It hissed, bubbling green and condensing. "Vincent is not the type of person to get so easily captured... and he didn't fight it, either. He was so complacent, and voluntary. He could have blended or ran, but he just glared at them and their guns and said "I know of 201745," and the Turks came and directed him away."

"201745?" Yuffie questioned, gray eyes wide. "I've heard of that somewhere. I don't really remember though. It's all weird. Maybe something to do with Wutai? Shinra's got tons of names for stuff that's Wutaian secret stuff."

Tifa rolled her eyes and lifted gauze to Cloud's arm, only to be swatted away. "Of course, Yuffie," she said in an attempt to be consoling. Zack understood exactly what the woman was thinking: why would a thief know anything about anything extremely important about Wutai? Not all citizens of Wutai, no matter how many times they proclaimed that they held royal blood, knew about most of the transgressions which occurred and continued to occur in their country. But, no one wanted to call the girl out on her heritage; she was a kleptomaniac, but still a little kid by all standards.

Even if, in a technical aspect, she was the same age as Cloud.

"201745?" Zack repeated. It didn't seem like something he knew anything about. But, if Vincent of all people knew (considering Vincent's estrangement from the company for over thirty years) then there should have been something of remembrance about the set of numbers. But, there wasn't even the slightest nudge to his mind.

"I don't know anything about a case after that name," Zack admitted, feeling the gaze of every person present. For a brief second Zack could have sworn that someone had sighed with contempt or disappointment--Zack being a fool and remembering nothing. That was what most actions had come to feel like when Zack didn't have an answer, or dared to answer wrong.

Sometimes he wanted to be immature, to call everyone out about it and inform them that he was as imperfect as they were. It wasn't his fault that he had gone from one of the most famous SOLDIERs to nothing. He even had his own fanclub, where everything from his shoe size to his... manly size... discussed and adored with a reverence that only fangirls could provide. They wanted to know everything about every person he kissed, every person he fucked, every person he greeted on a day to day basis. They whispered like peddlers on the black market, stalking and preying, their wares sold off. A tissue here, a picture there. The ever-continuing whispers of whether all men in the SOLDIER compound were secretly having mass orgies in the mess hall continued, but they based their wild fantasies on Zack. Everything about Zack.

It didn't go to his head; he still knew exactly what he was, who he was, and what he wanted to do with his life. But it was such a shock from going from pedestal to nothing. Even as leader of a terrorist organization, he was still the same person. Goofy, flirty, loving. He wasn't always right, but he tried his best. But that best didn't seem to be good enough, on occasion.

"Sorry."

But he wasn't sorry, not really. Just a little tired and a little upset. And, to top all of the horrible actions that had occurred over the past few minutes, they now needed to break into a Shinra Compound and kidnap a demon ex-Turk, a specimen beast, and a man who was widely known for being one of the leaders of Avalanche, and was also as widely known for his penchant for blowing up expensive shit.

"Don't be," Cloud said, his voice severe. There was a crack, a reminder of his physical age or his mental maturity, Zack couldn't tell. "Don't apologize. There are so many things that SOLDIERs have to do, and paperwork and remembering case numbers doesn't always happen. It's just not possibly to expect so much. And what if it was a Turk thing? You couldn't be expected to know of what goes on in other departments. After all, if I remember quiet clearly, during the Wutai War, Turks that would be sent on do-or-die missions were sometimes tortured so severely that all they would be able to answer in was random case files. It was a way of hiding emotions and physical pain. A way of digging a hole in the mind and successfully hiding in it."

The others were auspiciously silent, the only sound coming from the women breathing harshly and Cait's mechanical engine whirring. For the most part, everyone was just looking at Cloud, unsure of what they should say, or even if they should speak at all. There was that tint of mako in the air, like a festering wound's smell when it had been improperly treated, so strong it almost made Zack's eyes burn.

Charred clothing. Thick, cloying, Zack wondered why it was suddenly bothering him. Was it because it was too quiet, that his mind wandered off to occupy itself?

"We need to get them, no matter what the numbers mean. They put themselves into danger so that we could get to you. I don't even know if Barret and Red were able to infiltrate the base. But, if they didn't, Barret would have known that they would be busy with them. He would cause a massive uproar, shoot someone important, maybe kill the president."

Tifa took in a shaking breath, raising her hand to her face. Her skin was flushed, wine-red eyes sharp and worried. "He'd get himself killed," she whispered. Her skin lost any color that she had gained on their journey. It was the same pale, nervous girl in the mountains of Nibelheim over five years ago who asked him if he knew anything about a SOLDIER boy with blonde hair. There was such strength, but more worry. It drained Tifa.

Cait hunched his shoulders and muttered something that no one but Yuffie caught. The girl looked withdrawn, but there was a fire deep in her eyes.

"What'd he say?" Aeris questioned as she stood from her little corner of the bed, kneeling down before the Wutainese girl.

Yuffie jumped up, tossing Cait onto the bed as she grabbed her arm guard, making swift motions that would have been dizzying for anyone who was not mako-enhanced.

"We've got to go save Vinny!" she hollered. "We're not gunna let anyone get in our way, and we're gunna take Sephiroth and Shinra down. We gotta, right? and we can't let anyone die--can't let anyone down. I have t--we have ta be strong and willing and gosh, no matter how bad smelling he may be, he saved all our asses! We owe it to him, and we gotta go get him!"

"Where's this come from, Yuffie?" Aeris questioned, her gaze rippling from the girl to Cait Sith, who was slinking off the bed to gather his Mog from the other room. "What'd you say to her, Cait?"

The cat almost looked ashamed, Zack would have thought. Except for the fact that the fur-ball was unable to truly feel emotions, Cait Sith could have been a short and straggly member of Avalanche. "I just told Miss that her papa wouldn't be happy if she didn't help. He's the King of Wutai, right?"

"Not a _king_, you stupid fluff ball! He's the leader of everything, a national hero, a man of diligence and respect. You don't go to Wutai and call him a king or a President. He's Godo Kis--well, you don't need to know those details!" the girl stopped herself from finishing her sentence. "But he's the main man, the head honcho, my old man."

Cloud's wounds were almost all healed up, but his apparent snark had yet to fade. "But, wouldn't that make you a--"

"I AM STILL THE PRINCESS OF WUTAI!" Yuffie exclaimed at the top of her voice. She was strapped up, materia ready, and grabbed her shuriken, jumping into her famous pose. "I am the single white rose of Wutai. Those who know me, respect me. Those who are enemies learn the swift lesson of my blades. Those who love me, like you guys," she tacked onto the end, "adore me and crown me with love and candy."

Zack felt a little embarrassed for the girl, but she did not seem to mind all of the attention that was placed on her.

"She's trying to boost morale," Cloud muttered under his breath. Tifa and Zack seemed to be the only ones who had heard, but for a moment the ex-SOLDIER was proud, fiercely proud of the babbling teenager before him.

"A true soldier."

* * *

They didn't wait long to attempt to find a way into the Shinra base. Security was in no way low, but it was certainly better than it could have been. The streets were still filled with MPs and a smattering of SOLDIERs, but they had yet to see anything over a Second Class. No Turks either, luckily. That would have been disastrous--Turks always looked at everything.

It only took a few minutes of rather simple-minded thinking to get past the guards. Yuffie, ever the wanna-be Wutai ninja, had learned the stealth of jumping over tall walls, into places she probably had no business going. Normally, Zack would have mentioned the girl's mild obsession with breaking and entering, but he refused to complain about it at that moment.

There were only two SOLDIER Third-Class guards, who promptly began their barrage of attacks while they were all still in the air.

One of them tried to scream for back up, but Aeris was quick. She sent two Silence spells at the men, their voices catching mid-word. They knew that their option was to fight, and to fight alone.

"With honor," Zack grunted as he locked eyes with Cloud and gave a sharp nod. Simultaneously withdrawing their swords, Zack and Cloud attacked in a swirl of metal. Orios was sleek and powerful, meshing with each spin of the Buster Sword.

The enemy Zack took on, a man with dark eyes and a swollen forehead from where Cait Sith had thrown his megaphone, dodged with a kick to Zack's knee. The Buster Sword avoided his neck by a few inches, crashing into the shoulder, tearing out a few bits of flesh. The SOLDIER attempted to scream, but couldn't, instead raising his katana to block the next attack, only to be knocked in the skull with Tifa's fist.

He didn't drop. The SOLDIER swung out his blade, almost catching Zack again. This time Yuffie's weapon deflected the attack, sending a squirt of blood from the man's hand. Buster, at a rate so fast that Zack thought it impulse, raised up to impale the SOLDIER.

A hand grabbed his, yanking the blade away from the man.

"I don't want to kill them," Cloud whispered. Zack shook himself, for a moment not noticing the voice. it was soft, something he hadn't hear in so long. It was like Cloud before the mess with Shinra and Nibelheim. "They're just kids."

And they were.

Zack looked down at the blood-smeared man, but could only see child eyes. Probably not older than seventeen, the age Zack had become a First Class, the boy's eyes shined mako silver. They had probably been light gray before the mako. His parents had probably been so sad that their little boy was going off to brave the big bad world on his own. Those eyes...

"Fine," Zack said. He wanted his voice to quiver, but it didn't. Kids. How many kids had he killed over the past few months? No matter what happened to him and Cloud, they were still alive. how many kids had Zack snuffed the life from? "Aer, a sleeping spell."

The woman complied, the soft green tendrils capturing both children, their eyes filled with mako slipping closed.

"You would have killed them," Cloud said, as if it was an answer.

Zack knew it was a question.

"I would have..."

* * *

They slunk through the hallways of the Compound, avoiding as many people as they could. The battle outside had shaken Zack deeper than he wanted to admit, and there was a taste of vomit in his mouth. He didn't even remember the last time he ate, but that didn't matter. Little boys lying dead, with clear blue eyes and blonde hair.

It was too much. He was an ex-SOLIDER, for Holy sakes. He had killed so many. He was no Turk (Reno would come to his apartment sometimes with blood all over his hands, explaining how Shinra had him kill a child just because their parents were into business no child should have played with), but how many little Clouds were dead because of those orders? How many people in Wutai? In their trek from Nibelheim? Just how many lives had he taken of kids who had his poster on their wall? Or Sephiroth's? Genesis? Angeal? How many of them had been under his wing when he was a SOLDIER? How many boys did he send back to the lifestream?

The only thing that kept Zack grounded was the hand that would occasionally brush against his in mid stride. That skin, a centerpiece of innocence. It was all Zack had anymore. He had no innocence of his own.

They walked for what could have been hours or minutes, Zack couldn't have said. He did know that every thirty seconds a hand would brush against his, and every step there was a breath that could have been right next to his ear. He was on the lookout for anyone, friend or foe, and kept his ears open, but only partially so. So much in his mind, it felt as though it was filled to the brim and would explode.

That was before they heard a gruff man screaming obscenities.

"You sack of lard-shit, fuckin' cock-sucking mother fuckers! You are not takin' my fuckin' ship for your stupid asshole whining, piss drinking pansy-ass president. I don't give a shit if you give me all that gil and your daughter's virginity on a fucking gold platter, you are **not **taking my fuckin' baby! Final—I don't wanna hear a word outta your slime-sucking hole!"

There was a crash from the room they had passed, and now a livid man, blonde stubble across his cheeks, hair matted with black grease, stood in front of them, cigarette hanging dangerously low to his collar. A spear was in one clutched hand and a phone in the other.

"What're you fuckin' looking at? I don't got time for this shit—dragging people from my house and then trying to jack my Bronco. Dumb ass president brought this on his own fucking ass—and you're still fucking staring at me. Got something to say? Then just say it; I don't got the time to be standing here like a pandering fucktard."

"Uh." Yuffie was the first to say something. "Have you seen a vampire dressed like a creepy Midgar Rock Star?"

"That's the description Shera gave me. You his buddies? Well, if ya are, I'm Cid. Captain of this place, even if they're tryin' to take my fucking planes 'way from me." The gruff blonde was a few feet away, and didn't reach out to shake anyone's hand. "Pissed of Shinra something wild. Hey... If ya help me piss off these fuckers, let 'em chase after you so I can get my plane outta dodge, I'll tell you where they brought him and the other two weirdos they caught."

Loud as he was, at least it was something.

* * *

**CHAPTER YAY! I am so happy it didn't take me a month to update. More chapters soon. And then we get to the exciting stuff—yay! Sorry there wasn't a lot of making out in this chapter... but I hope you all understand. **

**Please Review!**


	70. Cookies and Goddamn Tea

Author Notes: I have to ask this—are you getting bored with Tenacity? Because I noticed a rather large drop in people reading the new chapters... it kind of makes me sad, and I know the story is killer long, but if you want me to start skipping to the exciting stuff and stop going into everything like I tend to do, just tell me. I don't want to more you guys out of your minds. Also, this chapter was written last week, but then my computer stopped working and I had to set up my OS again, and lost it. Sorry.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Cookies and Goddamn Tea

"Why're you trusting us, old man? Don'tcha think we'll like, tie you up and tell Shinra 'bout you trying to get on their bad side on purpose?"

The group traveled down the hallways, one after another. It was a straight line of warriors covered in muck, or in Cid's case, grease, but avoiding the smattering of guards seemed to become easier the further they went. The pilot, who Zack felt was perhaps almost as vulgar as Barret, occasionally cursed in frustration, but he knew the way to wherever the others were being held. He also seemed to know the best way of avoiding all of the workers.

"I know you're don't going to do some stupid fucking thing like that because you need your buddies or they just might get their necks snapped by Shinra fuckers. I know your deal; I watch enough fucking news to know who at least a coupla' ya are. Fair, the runaway SOLDIER; kid followin' after him; Lockhart, chick with a nice rack and a bit of a cruel punch, and that big black guy. Wallace—we've been having his picture shoved down our throats since that stupid mako reactor explosion a couple months ago." Cid pulled a cigarette from behind his ear, and jostled with his pocket for a lighter. "Guess I can blame ya for some of the shit that's been going down since then. My fuckin' plane. My baby."

Aeris coughed. Zack glanced at her, standing next to him. Her head was up, but cheeks were tinted with a blush. "Anything about me?" she asked. Of course, she was worried if anyone knew anything of her, Zack conceded. She was in extreme danger if anyone looked at the Science Department. Breeding specimen or not, her life was possibly a moot point to Shinra. They wanted her, yes, but probably could have survived without her. Hojo hadn't been pleased that she was merely a percentage of true Cetra. And, knowing how twisted Hojo was, he probably already had Ifalna's eggs locked away somewhere. Living specimens had their uses though... they could give birth.

Zack wanted to rest his head on the floor, to just lay down for a moment and allow his mind to wander off somewhere. He wanted to know what he was going to do to keep Aeris safe; that girl's sparkle, no matter if their love was platonic or romantic, was too bright to wither, to die. It didn't even matter that she was the last of her kind. Even if there were a thousand other Cetra willing to breed and prosper, to keep her their Cetra blood running in the veins of the planet, he would fight. Zack wanted to see little Aeris babies running around, happily chatting with other children and the planet. It didn't matter if the father was Sephiroth or Barret or even _Vincent_, just the fact that she had created another life was precious.

Though, Zack did admit that there was always a little corner of himself that wanted kids (and wouldn't be able to have his own because he was with Cloud), he was willing to be content watching Aeris's children grow.

But, for such an event to occur, they all needed to be alive, and out of Shinra's hands.

"And who the fuck are you, exactly? I don't remember every chick Shinra wants to kill, only to ones with racks like that," Cid said as he regarded Tifa's chest with a glance. "but, can't say I know who you are. If you've been on the news, it ain't been over here. Don't know who the wanna-be ninja chick is either, so don't get ass-hurt over it."

Aeris huffed. "My name is Aeris, for your information," she said, her scathing anger visible on her face. "And we aren't just 'chicks'. We're women... for the most part."

Zack had learned quickly in the first few weeks of dating Aeris that it was not only a bad idea, but almost a suicidal idea, to degrade a woman. Luckily, his mother had taught him better than that, but he would occasionally say something foolish as chicks and get backhanded. But, Aeris wanted to give Cid a warning; his coarse language coupled with disrespect was not going to be tolerated, at least not where Aeris was concerned.

"And they're called breasts, for your information, as well. Store it, remember it. And don't regard a woman solely on her chest size—it's rude, and you shouldn't even be looking at that place without permission," Aeris's voice rose an octave. "Have respect for women, like your Shera."

The others had said nothing during the transgression, and Cid had been quite silent. But, when there was a mention of the man's wife (Zack only knew that she lived with the Captain, according to the others), the man laughed ruefully.

"Don't fuckin' play with me. Me, married to _her_? I'd rather be Wallace's bitch than marry her. Don't kid yourself, lady. And, is _lady_ a-o-fucking-kay by you? Because, if that isn't, I don't know what I'm gunna call you. Never once had someone shit on what I said. You're a first, lady."

Zack saw Tifa slap her hand to her forehead. "Can we not have this conversation at this particular moment? If you haven't noticed, we're a bit busy at the moment. I don't care if you call me rack or vagina-wielder, as long as you show us where they've got our friends."

The sarcasm heavy, almost as heavy as Zack's sword, but it seemed to work. Cid saluted with the hand with the cigarette and picked at the skin on his nose with the tip of his spear. "Fine, I ain't wanna keep your shitty company longer than I need to. Doesn't matter anyway; once I get my plane I'm outta here. They'll keep trying to jack her ask long as I'm in this town. Bit sad, but at least someone'll still be here to water my plants. Well, whatever those piece of shits left of my plants. Running over 'em to collect a buncha' terrorists. That isn't a story you tell to the kids."

"I doubt there is much that you could say to those metaphorical children." Aeris looked as though she would hit the older pilot, but was resisting, just barely. Her thumb was pushed against her index fingers, a punch ready if the man said anything further. Even Aeris had a breaking point.

"This is like, totally weird. Aeris pissy and Tifa all compliant and stuff. Did they switch bodies? Because this is just creepy," Yuffie whispered to Zack. Even though the kid was on his left side, Aeris on his right, everyone seemed to hear. The girl seemed oblivious to what whispering actually involved.

Cloud clapped the blunt side of his sword against the girl's thigh. "You're about as quiet as a buzzsaw." There was a warning in his voice. "I can hear someone coming. Just be quiet, the lot of you."

There was a far off tapping on feet against the compound floor, heavy metal-toed boots colliding with the steel floor. Zack could hear a rhythm to the beats. "I hear it, too," Zack said, stopping in the middle of the hallway. Even though the sound was far off, it was somehow... close? "I don't know where it is," he admitted after a moment, closing his eyes to concentrate further.

"That's 'cause you're hearing from behind _that_ door, kid." Cid guffawed. "I was thinkin' you were bright, but you're a bit of a dumbass. I figured the big door would've given it away. Fair, they said you escaped a whole army of those pussy-bitched SOLDIERs, but I'm not too impressed." The pilot chewed on his cigarette filter, the skin between his eyes stretched thin.

"Leave him alone," Cloud said, pushing himself in front of Yuffie, once again using the blunt side of Orios against the girl.

"Douche! Don't push me around!" Yuffie whisper-yelled. It was clear the girl at least attempted to cap her volume, but from the shrieky reply, she seemed incapable of tuning herself down. "Big mean jerk."

Cloud didn't apologize, seemingly ignoring the whiny girl. The boy's face looked harsh, the crisp light reflecting against his pale, almost ghostly white skin. Zack thought he looked a little scary; his very presence was eerily strong: so very angry.

"Move," Cloud growled. "If you're not going to open up that door, than I will." There was a lingering threat, a promise of some form of painful punishment if not followed.

"Don't get your undies wet, I'll move. Don't get the big deal: damn, you'd think I lit a fucking chocobo on fire and danced over its body. Kinda lousy treatment for the guy who's helping you."

"You were the one who offered his services, sir!" Cait chimed from Yuffie's shoulders. The cat looked extraordinarily displeased. Zack could only conjure the idea that it was because the man had insulted Yuffie. The cat, for reasons that were still unclear, refused to allow anyone to insult Yuffie.

It was getting a bit tiresome.

"Whatever." Cid spit out his cigarette, some of the ashes going down the front of his shirt. "Don't let the door hit'cha where the goddess split'cha. Have fun with your Vampy rock star, munchkin. Give those fuckers shit enough for me, I guess." Cid waved off-handedly and adjusted his spear.

"Gotcha. Thanks," Tifa said amicably. "Thank this Shera woman for us."

Cid snorted and took a step back. "I'm not gunna be thanking her. Do that yourself if you wanna so bad. Just don't go dragging the dipshits through my house again. Shot to fucking shit, too. Watch your backs and all that."

The man turned around, waving a final farewell, a gesture that didn't really hold much importance, and Zack was a little happy that the man was gone.

"Let's crack the door, neh?" Yuffie rubbed her hands together, elbowing Zack in the stomach.

Cloud tossed back a spike that had fallen in front of his eye with his fingertips. "Yes. Let's."

* * *

Getting out was the easy part, thankfully. Even with three extra people, the ride out was smooth, like glass. Vincent had lurked behind, watching their flank, while Cloud walked ahead in short, almost liquid movements. Cloud had come far from a grunt in the army, with no medals or honors. As for Vincent, well... the man came from a box after thirty years. Breathing on his own was a vast improvement of life.

The compound seemed to almost shrink in size once Red, Barret and Vincent were back. What had felt like an hour trip only lasted fifteen minutes, the clock ticking by quicker and with more precision. Only running into three guards (all of which Cloud had taken care of humanely and with such agility that they only had a moment to blink before laying unconscious on the ground), there was a feeling inside of Zack that he didn't want to ignore.

Aeris grabbed at her chest suddenly, letting out a garbled cry. "Holy," she moaned, clutching at her pink dress, fingers prying into the fabric. The soft material rippled dangerously, and the Cetra girl choked.

Tifa, who had been walking side-by-side with the woman, yelled something unintelligible before grabbing Aeris's arm, attempting to steady her sway. This did nothing. Letting out a confused cry, Tifa moved out of the way, allowing Barret to grab Aeris, hoisting her over his muscled shoulder.

"What the fuck!?" someone yelled, but Zack couldn't understand who it was. The hallway's lights suddenly blackened before a flash of fire enveloped the area, hot and burning and, Zack felt his mouth suddenly dry, his stomach acid boil in his esophagus.

_It's them. They found the bodies and now we're under attack._

The lights flickered on, but rather than its off-white, it was red and flashing. Zack could see Aeris in Barret's arms; Yuffie tossing Cait down to properly clutch her shuriken to her; Orios drawn, ready to slash whoever came close enough to Cloud; the shining materia embedded into Tifa's gloves; Cait was poised at Yuffie's feet, his megaphone propped to his mouth, even though there was no Mog to command; Red's teeth bared, the red only accenting his fur. They were ready to battle.

"YOU BUNCHA SHIT-FER BRAINS! GET THE #($*#& OUT!" Cid's voice filtered from the walls, the floor; there was a wailing that accompanied it, a sound Zack had heard only in Cosmo Canyon. But, this was amplified, so loud that his teeth chattered. So pained, so anguished, like a child's sobbing.

"The Planet," Zack whispered, confused. But, he did not dwell on the sounds, as there was a rushing of someone, whoever had the heat spell lick them, but not burn.

There was red hair, but not a face that Zack knew intimately. Only in passing, a Turk, and a dangerous one, but not Reno...

"You know, it wouldn't be in your best interests to lurk," Raiden said, cocking his head to the side, tapping the hilt of his gun to his side. A green materia shined in his bangle. "After all, my lovely boss's orders don't involve me killing you at the moment."

"You an' yer' fuckin' boss make no sense!" Barret growled, gnashing his teeth much like Red.

The arrogant Turk rolled his eyes. "He makes perfect sense. We don't need you right now, so he doesn't want to bother. Just get out of town. We may have orders to follow, but MPs and SOLDIERs don't. Things have been a little...hectic, shall we say, since Heidegger's rather unfortunate demise. I may not like what my boss wants me to do, but orders are orders."

"I remember you," Cloud yelled. "Little bed-warming concubine, so very much like another Turk we are acquainted with. May I question whether or not Reno's mother let you slip from her womb as well? And, doesn't that just beg the question of whether you let him come in your ass or not? Wait... was it the other way around?"

The air was tense, and Zack looked at Cloud. His face was cold in the blinking light, and Zack could not tell for the life of him what color Cloud's eyes were. But, this nonchalant, eloquent bastard was so very much unlike his Cloud...

"Ouch. I'd say it burned, but it's not quite the degree as those nice little wounds on your hands, princess. Now," Raiden blew out a long breath, mocking his handiwork, "I'd get if I were you. Don't know if my lovely boss, or his rather endowed dick, if you _must_ know, will have us playing to his whims. He's a little bit oblivious to what he's actually doing sometimes. It's odd, considering the man is a genius. So nit-picky. You'd almost think that there was a reason..."

The red-haired Turk laughed, almost joyfully, before turning on his heel, feet a pitter-patter on the steel. "I'd go see what that Captain was bitching about, if I were you." And with that, the man turned the corner, the red lights still blinking like a police car's flashing lights.

"STUPID FUCKERS, GET YOUR ASSES HERE PRONTO!" The wailing of the Planet lurked in the background, sluggish and pained, gargled on, and Aeris attempted to curl herself into a ball while thrown over Barret's shoulder.

"We must leave," Red yelled over the sounds of the Planet, "we have no time to linger. This man, whoever he may be, is dire need."

Cloud shook his head. "Yes... I guess so. Let's mosey." But there was no emotion to his words—as if he had said nothing at all.

* * *

Vincent lead them through the final dozen or so meters to the outside, the coming twilight rushing at their heels. The sun's rays felt good against Zack's skin, which felt prickly and uncomfortable. Maybe it was the weeping sound Aeris made every times she was jostled, or perhaps that cry from the Planet. It no longer sounded, but Zack could almost feel it—an itch he couldn't scratch.

There were more guards now that the security system had been put on alert, but they climbed over the wall (or in Barret's case, hoisted Aeris over by Cloud having his Chocobo summon gallop over), with only minor difficulty. One issue was that Zack had little idea of where he was supposed to go; Cid hadn't mentioned where they would go, let alone what they'd do.

"We go to his home," Vincent stated, tucking his gun into his cloak. "It is just east of here." The ex-Turk received a small scratch to his cheek, which healed over quickly, only leaving a blood smear. But, Zack bit the inside of his cheek, he didn't understand why it wasn't so much worse...

"I will explain what you wish when we arrive," the man said, curtly. "We do not have the time."

"We need to get our things before we make a run," Tifa said. "We're not going to be able to stay in this town for more than a few hours, at most. The MPs, want our blood, and they'll make sure they get it. I don't trust a Shinra further than I can throw him." She folded her arms. "Give Vincent Aeris, and I'll take Cloud and Barret with me. We'll get everything."

"Don't forget my stuff!" Yuffie clapped her hand to her shuriken. "Or Mog—go with them, Cait," she said, toeing the cat's back with her shoe. "Make sure they don't forget anything."

"Zack, Yuffie, Red and Vincent should go to this guy's house. Cloud and I can get there, and we have enough muscle to make sure we get out okay. Get Aeris somewhere safe—that's the main idea, right?"

The group split up, both going in different directions, but as Zack turned, he felt a cool hand slip across his. Just for a moment, Cloud's fingers eclipsed his, a gesture of comfort, and Zack could almost smell Cloud's blonde hair, feel the tickle of their skin against one another. It wasn't erotic, perse, but it was endearing. It was... nice. Safe. Comforting. That feeling, Zack wanted to have it forever, to always be held, to always have something to hold onto. Maybe it was an emotional blockade, but Zack felt like he needed to be angry or break something, but at the same time break down and cry. He wouldn't do either, of course, but it was that feeling of helplessness. Zack was too accustomed to that feeling, regarding ever person or thing he ever cared for.

Zack was tired of life being so heartless, of being unable to take care of everything, of not being able to promise that the next day would be better than the previous.

He wasn't an angsty man by nature, but it sure felt like he was slowly becoming one.

The moment was gone once their fingers disconnected.

"Get to the Captain's house in an hour. If things go south, you call and get out. I don't care if we have to dig you out of a tree. Just be safe," Zack stressed the last sentence. It sounded almost comical, the absurdity of digging someone out of a tree (Zack wondered if it was even physically possible to get stuck inside of a tree of all things), but it felt right. That was all that mattered to Zack when he thought about it. He didn't care if it made sense as long as the message was clear: _Cloud, if you aren't back here in an hour you're going to make damn well sure that you're safe. I don't care what you have to do; you'll do it. _

* * *

They arrived at the house just at sunset, the moon rising in the sky, illuminating the road. It was dark, which was an excellent source of cover. Even with the SOLDIERs having better eyesight than most, the MPs generally had no mako exposure, leaving most of Shinra's army blind in the middle of the night. If Zack had any place in Shinra, that incident could have been avoided, but it seemed that while he was gone (and with him most of the high-ranking Shinra and elite members of SOLDIER), the company got lazy and doltish.

Lazard, Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis, or at least the people the black-haired man remembered with affection and fondness, would have been rolling in their graves at the thought. Lazard, whether or not he was related to Rufus Shinra or not, was a genius on his own. Even while robbing Shinra Power Company blind and dumb, Lazard was able to keep up a front, like he cared of the company. The blonde-haired man cared for those in the program, as well as himself.

Even blood wasn't as thick as the long dead president had thought.

"Fina-fucking-ly. Took your goddess-damn sweet-ass time, didn't ya? Never mind the fact that those little shits tried to steal my plane, _again_, or the fact that there was some weird shit going on with this frequency, and what is wrong with her?" Cid's face seemed to be covered in more engine grease, and his cigarette was customarily lit, but even as he looked like a grimy bastard, he still seemed to have a molecule of decency. "She ain't dead, right?"

Barret hefted Aeris from his shoulder, cradling her in his big arms. "Naw, I just think she's knocked herse'f out. Can't blame 'er. Got loud, could hear the Planet for miles. Probably got inta'cepted by da radio signals 'round here. Can't remember if that'd ever happened 'fore, but I'm sure it ain't the first time."

"You heard it, too, eh?" Cid moved the cigarette in his mouth up and down. "Never happened around here before. Wanted to blame your weird asses for it, but Shera said that it happened sometimes. Shit if I knew, right?" Cid rubbed at his dirty head with his hand, successfully smearing the engine grease further. "Jus' get in the house. I'll get some tea goin' and you can let the lady sleep on the couch or sumthin'."

"Thank you for this," Zack said as he swung Buster Sword into its sheath, reaching out to Barret to take Aeris from him. The black man shook his head.

"I got 'er."

Cid had gone back to his home, opening the door wide enough for the group to see inside the tiny home. The place was decorated in flowers, a bit on the pasty and gaudy side, the man thought, but nice enough. It didn't look like a house Cid would live in, but apparently the Shera woman had only so much taste in decoration. However, Zack Fair was perhaps the last person who had a right to talk of anything involving décor...

"_Shera! Make me a pot of fucking tea! Don't just stand there with your thumbs lodged up your ass!_" Cid bellowed, his voice sharp. It rang through the entire house, and Shera bolted out of one of the rooms with a kettle ready for the stove. "And cookies, too. Their our fucking guests, as unwelcome as the may be. So, make some fucking cookies!"

"Of course, Cid!" the woman said with false cheerfulness. There were bluish rings around her eyes from few hours sleep, and there was a yellow tinge to her skin. She was sallow, maybe not getting enough sun in the day. Did Cid keep her cooped up in the house all day?"

"Don't look at me like that," Cid interrupted. "I ain't forcing her to stay, you big lug. I ain't that mean. And just lay the girl over there." The pilot gestured to the couch to the left of the kitchen table. There were several pillows adorning the couch, which Yuffie swatted off before letting Barret lay Aeris down. Red went between several legs to get to the side of the couch, resting his head on one of the pillows.

"I'll watch her," Red said between a yawn. The beast was still a kid, the ex-SOLDIER reminded himself, and he seemed to look up to Aeris. Everyone did.

"Sure, just rest, 'kay?" Zack said, and then pointedly looked at Yuffie, who also looked exhausted. "You should rest as well."

"Neh, I'll wait until everyone gets here," she said as she slumped down next to Red, resting her head on the arm of the couch. "I just need... a sec... so tired." Yuffie closed her gray eyes, face slacking.

"It looks as though everyone is very tired. Perhaps tea would not be the best remedy this late at night," the woman, Shera, said. She wiped the corner of her left eye with her pinky, the other hand dropping a few white and brown teabags into a pot of boiling water. She was going through the motions without much thought. "And, I made cookies earlier. I'm sure they're even still warm, Captain. Here's your tea." She fiddled with the water for a moment before taking it off the stove, pouring a cup of tea for Cid.

"Makin' tea isn't goddamn rocket-science, Shera. And trust me, I'd know what a fucking rocket scientist looks like. Just get 'em what they want." Cid stalked to his chair, throwing himself back. "It's been a long day, and I don't even think it's close to finished. That'd be my luck. Bunch of weird travelers in Avalanche come knocking on my front door, just after that fucking Shinra prick trying to take my shit and run with it. Maybe it's just me, but this is all too fucking coincidental to be _normal_."

Vincent lurked to the corner of the room, balancing himself with one hand against the wall. "There is no such thing as normal," the man quietly answered. "And, there is no such thing as a coincidence."

Cid sneered, taking a sip of his hot tea. "No fucking sugar," he muttered, before answering Vincent. "Look, Vampy, I don't care if you think that the sun fuckin' shines because your ass wakes up in the morning. Normal, fine. It's a bit overrated anyway. As for coincidence, there sure as fuck are a lot of coincidences. You're gunna sit in _my_ kitchen, under _my _roof and tell me that there's some metaphorical bullshit like fate and shit? That's not gunna fly, Vince. We live, we eat, we fuck, we die. I don't care if you get to live until my great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids squeeze their own little puppies out. There's no such thing as 'fate'." The pilot knocked back half of his tea in one gulp. "Now, if you wanna talk about how great the inn-girl's tits are, fine. We'll have a nice philosophical bullshit contest about that. But no Goddess and no fate. Least not right now."

Zack wasn't sure whether he should have been offended or not. Aeris had told him so many things about the Planet that couldn't be ignored. It was like saying that the Planet wasn't a living thing...

"I believe that there are many in this room who would disagree," Zack finished lamely. "It's just that most of those people are conked out on your couch right now, and it probably wouldn't be the best of ideas to wake them up. Especially Aeris. She'd give you a lecture to end all lectures." He didn't say why, however. If Aeris's condition wasn't already known to the man (and according to Cid, he didn't even know who she was) it was best to keep it that way. That little not so secret-secret was a death sentence in a name.

Zack sat down in the chair Shera pulled out for him, thanked the woman, and laid his head against the cool surface.

"You drink your goddamn tea and eat those goddamn cookies."

Zack lifted his head an inch to crash it down on the table.

* * *

**Next chapter—the escape and beginning of Wutai! Woohoo! Anyway, once again, I'm sorry for length of time it took to get this up. I liked the first chapter better, but there's not much I can do to get it back. It makes me very, very sad, but I still hope you guys liked it! Anyway, enjoy!**

**Please Review!**


	71. Reverse Three: Chasms

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Reverse Three: Chasms

It was so very dark; a blanket of smoky lifestream surrounded her. There was no direction or time, even with the blunted twang of a clock she knew nothing of clanged midnight. Twelve deep, chasm deep, sounds before she was once again greeted with the Planet's wails. The darkness thrived off of the suffering; the distressed greeting a kiss to the mouth or a nip to the neck.

Aeris knew she lurked deep in the core of _Her _lifestream, one of the many souls traveling their journey to _Her_Promise land. Their connection, the one she had with her mother, caused her fingers to tingle. It was diminutive, but there; _She _needed something, a hand to help guide the Planet. They were all equally _Her_ children, born with purpose to serve _Her _image to the world. But Aeris was a little different, however.

_She_ did not favor Aeris (and Aeris could never imagine _Her_ favoring any of _Her_ children over another), but the half-Cetra woman listened to what she knew resided in her. All mothers call to they children (and _She_ was no exception), but Aeris could hear it better tan_ Her _other wailing souls because she knew how to close her eyes and listen.

"I don't know what you want," she whispered into the darkness. This was new. Never had Aeris been called to the lifestream, her soul wandering among the nothingness. "I can't see... Please, I want to know. I... I want to help."

Something soft slipped against the bridge of her nose and dotted against her cheek. Aeris couldn't be certain, but it reminded her of her mother's touch back in Midgar, the tender lullaby Ifalna sang between breaths. She had said, through her bloody coughs, that death was only the beginning of another life, that a soul could never disappear, that a body was sustenance to help the planet heal its wounds, but a soul thrived on. It was the song of their people, a song Aeris would one day sing to her own children, who would sing it to their children, who would sing it on and on, for however long it took to heal _Her._

The hand rippled against her forehead, swatting a few runaway hairs from her eyes. So human, but so alien.

The lifestream, once completely encompassed in darkness, began to filly with thin wisps of green. It was not the sickly green of an insane SOLDIERs eyes (Aeris shuddered; as of late, she could see innocent Cloud's eyes turn that cold, hateful hue.) Rather, the color reminded her of the grass inside her church, the blades poking from the ill-nourished soil to flutter next to the flowers in a false breeze. It was comforting, another stroke against her cheek by a hand that was not really there.

_She_ was there; Aeris could feel it on her skin, in her mouth, in her ears. It was as if she took a step from the bottom of a wide, deep ocean and into the sun. A mother's tender love, the only thing that could heal the Planet. The emerald lifestream twirled in the air, streamers of light and radiance, hope and prosperity, but most of all_ Her_ love and devotion to the Planet. Something caught in Aeris's throat; that raw power, the raw energy of life and emotion made Aeris want to fall to her knees in prayer. Gaia, Holy, Lifestream, _**Minerva**_.

The tendrils of souls were solidifying into a woman, the most beautiful woman that any mortal could ever view. Aeris could not gasp, could not move, could not breath.

Before her materialized a goddess of strength, her spear curled with the lifestream she wielded. But, she was also a goddess of protection, her shield denser than diamonds. There was no fear, not with _Her_. Every metal clasp, every ring of dense metal, every wisp of the Planet that trailed in _Her_wake only added to her ethereal charm. The gold plating of her armor accented her blonde hair, long and the color of a chocobo's silky feathers.

She stared through the deepest, most soulful pale blue eyes. They were not human—they were too old, older than even the Cetra who sang of the Planet and its nature, of its wonder. But, Aeris noticed after her staring, that there were wings, silk wings, it seemed, that came from her armor. So, so...

Aeris fell to her knees, onto a ground of wispy green. "My... my..." she cried, clasping her hands before her in prayer. But, all she could say was: "Why? Why this destruction, this hate? Why did _You_ leave this Planet, your child, to waste? Jenova—she was_ Your_ child. She is..." Aeris knew it was best to be silent, but it was a floodgate opened within her, words not even she understood pouring free from her mouth. "Gaia is not unbroken, and_ You _planted the seeds which reaped against us. Why my people? Why _any _people? We did not sin, we did not go against _You_. Why do we suffer? _I can hear them screaming in my head, and they won't stop._"

Aeris leaned forward, all of her energy gone. Her hands unclasped and dangled at her sides, held up by nothingness and everything. She was still on her knees, before _Her_, but something was peculiar... she could not say what, but it was a feeling inside of her heart and head. It was becoming fuzzy, and the sounds of the planet were growing dimmer and dimmer, like she was fading away.

"Why must this be our fate?" Aeris felt a hand rest below her chin. She could not see the hand. There was something soft covering her eyes, but Aeris did not have the energy to push it away. "Why...why are we cursed to this...this...desolation?"

A kiss on her forehead, a mother's lullaby, and a whisper. It was faint, but prolonged. It was a moment and an eternity.

And the Planet's wails hushed, and Minerva spoke.

"Because," she whispered her answer lower.

And Aeris could only listen with horror.

* * *

Yuffie was freakin' _tired_ of all the crap and stupid stuff that was going on. Shinra being themselves, uber annoying and the whole deal with wanting to kill all of them, but it wasn't like she was really part of Shinra. Yeah, the Planet mattered and it was all important and whatnot, but she just didn't give two cares anymore. She wanted to go home, or to whatever home was.

Things weren't the same anymore, though. There was the nun and the monster-boy, boobies and gun dude, the SOLDIER and his little chocobo-butt, Mr. I've got a plane and am having sex with its engine and the smelly Vamp. They were friends—ish. And, there was Cait. Annoying little pimple or not, sticking to Yuffie like gunk, Cait was totally awesome. It was almost like he understood her, that he understood what she was doing wasn't just for her. She wasn't just a silly, selfish ninja brat. She was the Princess of Wutai... she had to do something.

Friends or not, she needed that old man to see that she could take care of herself and her country. It was going to be hers. Things would have been different had--

_Don't think about it, Yuffie! I'm not going to think about it, because there's nothing to think about! I'm the only child of Godo Kisaragi and his wife. My old man may not like me, but I'm his daughter. He's got no choice of giving up Wutai to me when he croaks. Mama's been gone for a long time, since the war, and I'm the only one. No one else. Me against the world and the world against me. _

There wasn't guilt. No guilt as all, no sirree-bob. She was gunna do a little of _this _and a little of _that_, and then all her companions' materia would be Wutai's. They all deserved it, too. Right?

_Doesn't matter if they did or not. It's gunna happen and I'm going to make Wutai beautiful and powerful and all mighty again. Leviathan wouldn't have given herself to me if I wasn't cut to this stupid job. I'm super-awesome white rose of Wutai. I've gotta do what needs to be done. _

She knew that leaving them out in the middle of Wutai territory wouldn't be the best way of going about things, but there wasn't much that she'd be able to do. They were strong and they could keep their potions and camping gear. Yuffie didn't need any of that crap with her, weighing her butt down. Ninjas move fast and without stuff holding them back.

That's why her friends—ish weren't a big deal. Who cared that she knew all 'bout them? That Chocobo-butt and the hyper SOLDIER were still all lovin' up on one another? Or that Aeris was sick and thinking too much about stupid stuff that didn't mean anything? Or that Red was all upset still about his floating grandpa and his own old man? Barret was still sad about Marlene, and since Dyne... he was scared she'd leave him. Tifa was still loving on Cloud... but he didn't care. The Vampire, too. He had his little "Lucrecia!" angst followin' him around like a deaf puppy being told to go away. The dude who owned the house was a butt-head to that Shera woman who he was talking about. And Cait...

Cait was a machine, and totally weird. But, at the same time, it was like being able to hug someone close and pretend everything was okay. No princess and materia or—that secret. No caring. Just something to listen and to help her. It was gunna suck hardcore when she ran off with all their junk and left Cait behind. Sometimes it was like Cait had a heart.

_Doesn't matter. Family honor and materia. I'm gunna fix everything they screwed up. Enemy of my enemy ain't my friend this time. Everyone's just gunna have to suck it up and move on, 'cuz I'm not gunna be there to save their butts anymore. _

Yuffie was tired, and she felt her eyes itch.

She pretended like she wasn't crying, but sleeping.

And she totally blamed _him_. It was all his fault.

* * *

"Can I use da' phone in here?" Barret asked, pointing his meaty fist to the bathroom. Shera, who looked a bit confused, just nodded her head.

"Oh, uh, of course. But, it's kind of tiny in there."

Barret didn't care though.

He hit number one of the PHS and let it ring until someone picked up.

"'ewwo?" a little girl said tiredly, and Barret cursed under his breath. He didn't want to wake her up.

"Hi, Baby, it's Daddy."

"Daddy, it's you? It's late."

"I know, Baby. I just wanted to call and see how you was doin'. How's everything, Marlene?"

The girl yawned. "Everyth'ns awright. Mrs. Flower Lady's mommy says that I'm really good a' spelling. She even let me read some of the Flower Lady's stuff. I'm sleepin' in her room. It's nice, Daddy. There's flowers and stuff. I like it here."

Barret felt his heart break. "Oh, really? Well, that's goo' Baby. It's goo' that you're so smart. Mah little, smart Marlene."

"Daddy, are you okay? You sound sad."

Barret took in a deep breath. "I'm fine, Baby. I just miss you, tha's all. It's so good that y'ur doin' good in school and behavin' for Mrs. G."

"She's nice to me, Daddy. I really like her. I wish I had a mommy like Mrs. Flower Lady's mommy."

"I... That's good. I've gotta go now, Marlene, but I'll call ya' soon, 'kay? I love you."

"Mmmm. I love you too, Daddy. I'm gunna go back to sleep now. Bye-bye!"

Marlene hung up the phone, and Barret leaned over the sink he didn't even notice was there, and took in shuddering breaths.

* * *

Tifa glimpsed to the side, where Cloud stood next to her, three backpacks in his arms and two on his back. Her own arms were filled, and anything that they had not been able to carry on their own was entrusted in Mog's stuffed arms. Cait was happy that he wasn't big enough to carry anything but Yuffie's purse-like bag, and was happily jumping around on Mog's head. The scene made Tifa smile.

"Look at how silly they are," Tifa whispered, nudging Cloud with a bag. "It's like watching a baby and a puppy."

Cloud muttered something that Tifa wasn't able to catch, but it sounded like an endearment. He glanced up from his feet when Tifa nudged him again. "Yeah, Tifa. You're right. Hyper puppies and little babies."

Tifa bit her lip. "You okay, Cloud? You don't seem like you're okay, to be honest. I'm a bit worried about you. You really haven't been yourself a lot recently. The others are noticing, too. Aeris and Zack, most of all. We're all worried about you." Aeris stopped her walking and waiting for Cloud to stop, too. It took him three steps to notice she was lagging behind. "We're all worried that you're not being you, Cloud."

Cloud shook his head. "I'm me, Tifa. I don't understand what you mean."

Tifa looked down at the dirt, the tracks from Cait Sith and Mog in the loose ground. The mechanical cat and its fat mog were still waddling up the street, as discreetly as a mechanical cat and its mog could be.

"Your eyes, they change. It only happens sometimes, but when it does happen you act like someone I don't know..." _That I don't want to know._

Cloud attempted to raise his hand to his eyes to flick away a fallen spike. The bags, however, weighed him down, and instead he placated himself with rustling his cargo. "It's just the mako. I'm still me, Tifa. It's just, sometimes the Jenova in the mako that I was injected with acts up. When I get emotional or... tired... it just kinda comes and goes. It's not as big of a deal as you think it is. I'm not in any danger, and none of you are, either. Just as long as you don't try and do something like tackle me or anything I wouldn't do anything, and even then it would have to be a pretty powerful tackle. I'm perfectly fine, I promise."

The ramble did not make Tifa any more cheerful. In fact, the woman admitted to herself, it only made her feel more alone, reclusive. "That's good, then," she said skeptically. "I guess we should just... yeah, Cloud. Let's just get out of here."

_Why won't you admit that there's something wrong going on? Is it so bad that you can't share it with me?_ Tifa hoisted her bags up with a wheeze. "Cait shouldn't get to far forward. He's just a cat and a mog, after all. C'mon, Cloud. Just be... I don't know, a little less dissatisfied with life."

"I never said that I was dissatisfied," the blonde answered before taking two steps froward, passing through the foliage surrounding them. There were dots of light coming from the faraway mako lamps, or the homes that spotted the sides of the road. They would cast a eerie light on the dirt road they followed. Thankfully not many really seemed to know about the area, or care to travel through it. Tifa could count the leaves on the branch next to Cloud's head.

"Well, what am I supposed to say, hm? That you're being mopey and, dare I use Yuffie's words, emotionally retarded?" Tifa reserved any anger, but her mild antipathy touched her words.

Cloud's eyebrow cocked up. "I've never once heard her say that, to be honest," he answered, mild amusement in his tone. "But, emotionally retarded is what you think of me—" Cloud threw his head back, a thin, humorless laugh escaping from him, "—well, there isn't anything I'll be able to do to change your mind. Though, I figured "stunted" fit better than "retarded". However, not my sentence or opinion, so I will just have to simply deal with it, right?"

Tifa was unsure it was a joke or laughing matter until a thin smile finally greeted her. "I'm not going to bite you," Cloud said, his feathers ruffled.

"Well, it's a bit hard to tell sometimes."

"It should. Now, let's go."

* * *

**I hope you liked the Reverse chapter, and can maybe understand the characters a little more. I wanted to have them showing more emotion and weariness. I really feel for Tifa—she's not sure what's going on, and Cloud isn't being as straight-forward as he should be. Aeris's story bit is quite important, though I will tell you right now that what is in this story isn't me pushing religion on anyone (I can see how my reference to Minerva is Godlike). As an Agnostic, I see the beauty in not really knowing. But, for this story it does play a bit with fate and predetermined actions, so just take it at face value. Me not trying anything, okay? Also, I'm sorry that some people are turned off by the length of the story. Though it was a small minority(and that's all I can tell from reviews), I can direct you to some good, quick ,and plotless smut if that was what you were going after when you clicked. :)**

**Please Review. **


	72. Water

Author Notes: When I said that I was done writing this story, it was really an April Fools joke. I promise you, if you read the bolded letters, you could see that I was wishing you a Happy April Fools. I promise, I really won't be quitting this story. I wouldn't even think about it. This story is my baby, and there is pretty much nothing that could stop me from writing. It'd actually physically hurt, me thinks, to stop writing. Anyway, on with the story. Oh, and by the way, death threats aren't cool.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life--the end.

* * *

Chapter Sixty Nine: Water

Tifa, Cait (as well as the bulky and cumbersome Mog), and Cloud were back with their supplies before two hours passed. Even with the slightly long journey across town and back, Zack could only marvel at their quickness. They didn't look more tired than they already had been (excluding Cait, whose insides were only whirring a little more fast and loud than its usual shrillness), but Zack could tell that in their eyes… there was something that yanked Zack's heartstrings when he looked into Tifa's big, bright mahogany eyes. Such a pretty woman--did it have to be Cloud, of all the men in the Planet?

She didn't smile, but instead rested her head wearily on her shoulder, still standing still, waiting to see what would be needed from her. That was who she was--she was a woman who could stand on her own, without anyone holding her up. But, it was unwarranted for her eyes to be so tired. Her cowboy boots and hat, quirky personality; Zack even remembered the damn little cat that she was always chasing after. Fifteen and innocent, with a father that spoiled her and a mother who lived on in her memories. So content with life.

He couldn't do a damn thing about it, but it didn't stop him from thinking far too much on the matter.

"We need to get out of here by morning," Cloud stated, tossing the bags to the ground.

"Well, tha's obvious, ki'. We ain't got the time ta be fuckin' doin' nothin'."

"Obviously, you don't need to tell me that."

What Cloud said was ostensible. The fact of the matter was that the faster they moved, the better the entire situation would be. If they were able to get out of Rocket Town tonight, it would have been better. However, Zack knew he couldn't be a beggar. There weren't enough options in the bag for him to get opinionated.

Zack looked from Cloud to Barret, the black man's gunarm looking quite ragged. It wasn't polished or clean, and there were a decent number of blood splatters from close-range bullets meeting their prospective targets. His eyes were rimmed with red, from the exhaustion all of them were feeling, as well as what looked to have been tears. There were tell-tale markings to the skin around his eyes. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the man was still emotional from his conversation with his daughter before. He hadn't been able to tell her of her father, the man whose blood was really hers, was still alive.

Zack resisted the urge to smack his head against the table again. Too much to think about, not enough reserves to do so without his brain turning into a pile of mush.

"I don't care what y'all do as long as you get out of my house and keep those motherfuckers away from me," Cid spat, catching Zack's attention from across the room. In one hand he held a teacup, the tea inside sloshing over the side, and in his other was a phone. "Just got a call from that fucker again. He's told me that at sunset he's going to take it whether I want his lousy, ape-sucking ass to do it or not. Says that I'll get it back, but I don't believe that shit. I don't think even the stupidest of dickwads would be able to, either."

Cait jumped onto the table from Mog's shoulder, waving his hands around with an insane amount of enthusiasm. "I know, I know! Why don't you, Mister Cid, give us your plane?"

The captain laughed raucously. "Don't kid yourself, kitty, you ain't getting nothing from me. And what the fuck are you, anyway? Cats don't talk." Cid tossed the phone onto the cluttered counter, taking sip from his cup. "I know enough about shit other than planes than to not question why you and your furry toy are sitting in my house." He placed his cup down, more gently than the phone, and pulled out a backed chair. There was floral print across the seat, much like the rest of the house.

"I'm just an artificial life form, sir! I've got an inside of gadgets and gizmos, but I got enough in me to collect and exalt data. So, I may not be a real, living cat, but I am sure smarter than one! You don't like me…?" Cait's artificial face pouted. "Can't say I haven't heard it before, but it does make me sad to know that you don't like me."

Tifa moved finally toward the place where Aeris was resting. "What happened to her as we were leaving?" she asked, moving the conversation away from Cait's existence, or lack thereof.

Zack answered, standing up from his chair, trying much harder than Cid had to keep from scratching the floor with the legs. "I don't know," he answered, sure that his response wasn't the one that he wanted.

"I believe that it was the calling of the Planet," a gravely voice said a moment later, a shuddering pause coming from Barret, who also seemed to want to say something on the matter. Zack couldn't see Vincent without twisting his head around, and didn't bother.

"Elaborate."

"Fair, Miss Gainsborough is…" the man stopped, thinking over his next choice of words. It wasn't common knowledge, that there was still an Ancient alive, a breathing Cetra. According to Cid, he hadn't even heard of Aeris and her gift. It was not something that was to be brought up in a place that could turn into a potentially violent outburst could occur. Plus, it wasn't his place to say. "In tune with the Planet. There was an obvious increase in the Planet's voice, which much have caused her catatonic state. I believe that she, in laymen's terms, has knocked herself unconscious."

Tifa touched the woman's brow, running her hands to her thick brown hair. "Poor thing," she whispered under her breath. There was more in her sentiment than Aeris' predicament, however. Was Tifa pitying her because of Zack?

He didn't want to know.

"So, your friend's gets to converse with the fuckin' Planet, does she? Well, I can't say anything 'cause I talk to my planes all the damn time, but there's something seriously wrong with her if she thinks it can answer back. That shit you were hearin' was nothing more than bad radio reception thanks to those fucking satellites they've got." Under his breath the man muttered "an' can't even send _me_ up."

Barret rapped the knuckles of his hand against the table. He looked defiant, ready for action, even if there were tears still lingering in the corners of his eyes, one of the few things that reminded Zack that the man was still human. He could still cry, so very unlike their other gunner, who was semi-undead. "We gotta leave tomorra', not much after dawn. I say we jack thi' fucker's plane and go to Wutai--I know there's some anti-Shinra Avalanche members there that'd be willin' to keep us from getting' killed. They're hidden around the Da Chao, and since we're still gettin' hunted by those fuckas, we don' got a lot o' options. They're goo' people."

"The same kind of people that bomb Mako reactors and kill thousands of civilians? Or the same Avalanche that blew Gongaga up into smithereens?" Cid replied, snarking at the man. "I don't trust none a' ya." He scratched his nose with his pinky finger.

Zack winced at the word. Avalanche did do its share of shitty, terrible things… Gongaga wasn't them, though… right?

There were a few people looking at him, one in particular being Cloud, and Zack couldn't do anything but nibble on the soft flesh of his cheek.

* * *

The dawn came like a constant drumming on a battlefield.

Zack woke with a crick in his neck. He could already tell that the day wasn't going to be a great one--no day that started off badly got better. In fact, with Zack's experience with bad mornings, he could say with certainty that the day was not going to be fun at all. Coupled with the fact that they didn't really figure out much of a plan the night before, they were stuck grasping at straws.

Tifa even offered to flash Cid her chest (which gained her appalled looks from Shera, Barret, and Cloud, and caused Cid to burst into tears, while Cait stood on the table, gaping mouth with his foot in the sugar dish), which, while it was done in a desperate, angry mood, didn't do much to gain way in a way of actually getting away from Rocket Town, Rufus, and any other obstacles in their way.

They were running on an empty tank of gas, breathing in the fumes and hoping to get just another mile ahead.

Aeris, thankfully, woke a little before dawn in a coughing fit. She looked sickly pale, and her gaze couldn't stay focused on one thing for more than a moment, reminding the team of a scared chocobo standing next to the Midgar Zolom. It didn't make Zack feel particularly comfortable, and Aeris flat-out refused to converse with anyone beyond the customary "I'm fine, really," which was really nothing like the woman. When Aeris didn't want to talk, Zack could tell. That was what knowing a girl for seven or so years does to a person.

"I believe that she will be fine," Red told Zack, who was sluggishly stirring warm, homemade oatmeal. "She is a strong woman, a wise woman. Aeris is not a delicate flower that will break if touched. She is independent; she does not need you to fret for her. In fact, it may even cause more weight to topple onto her shoulders."

"Yeah, yeah, Red." Zack violently lifted the spoon mid-stir. The oatmeal may not have caused his anger, but it was helping him resolve his stress and anger, at least marginally so. "I don't think I could do anything, anyway."

"Do not be so bitter-hearted," the beast scratched his head with his hind paw. He looked nonchalant, even for himself. Red was usually mild-tempered… a teenager who was mild tempered! "I spoke with her not long before the incident of Nibelheim. Would you trust me if I said that she doesn't loathe you or Cloud? Because, she understands that she was not the woman, or, in this case, man, who you truly need."

"You know," Zack said as he began, once again, to stir the contents of the bowl at a rapid pace, "you'd be quite the charmer. I want to find you a nice, four-legged friend who talks."

Zack knew instantly that those words probably hadn't been the best he could have said, because Red looked down. "I will never have a mate, thanks to Hojo. There once was a girl cub, like me, but she was only a quarter Gi, and her families blood was very weak. However, I did adore her. I do not know what has become of her, but it would not be an unreasonable guess that Hojo had her exterminated…Killed."

He really was the only one.

Zack didn't know what would make the boy (boy beast, he thought, confused) happy, so he cursed under his breath and poured a few fresh berries into the sludgy mix before leaning over and putting it under Red's head. "Cheer up, kiddo. You've gotta have faith; you're a hero. You'll get the girl."

Red gave a half-hearted chuckle. "You have your boy, so I guess that we do get who we want, in the end." He leaned forward, digging his nuzzle into the bowl, lapping at its contents.

"You've got it all over your snout," Zack laughed a moment later when the beast looked up. He tried to lick it off, but only pushed it further up the bridge of his nose. Instead of having Zack wipe it off (Red had impeccable manners for not having thumbs), he wiped his snout across Zack's pant leg, leaving a streak of saliva and oatmeal.

"Aw, thanks," Zack said sarcastically as he grabbed a napkin from the table, before scrubbing furiously at his pants. He wasn't angry, though.

Red looked a little brighter.

* * *

They didn't have a plan until a few minutes after seven, the sun beginning to come up across the treeline.

They didn't have a plan until Palmer, the fat lard he was, once again busted into Cid's home."

"I've got you, I've got you!" the man cried, waving a long, dangerous-looking weapon around his head. The gun glowed a bright, violent red for a moment before shooting a flame off at the kitchen table, lighting the entire thing in a blazing inferno.

"YOU FUCKING DIPSHIT!" Cid swore loudly as he ran into the room, followed by a frazzled Tifa, Yuffie, and Shera. "My fucking table! MY HOUSE!"

But Palmer just did a jig, his flubber bouncing to a fro across the kitchen, still harping his lungs out.

Zack was already running to the sink for water, as did Shera, who disappeared into the bathroom, grabbing a vase on the way there.

"Oh, for the love of--" Yuffie wailed, reaching into the satchel at her side, pulling out a red summons materia. Zack could taste the water in his mouth before Leviathan emerged from the swirling depths her summons materia created. Yuffie quickly ordered Leviathan to shoot water at the flames and the 'piggy man', which she did with great joy. Her scales were a pale greenish blue, reflecting the water she spewed forth from her mouth in a tidal wave.

Palmer screamed as the water began to flood the kitchen, effectively putting out the fire, but also soaking the entire home. Zack felt the water touch above his boots.

"Grab your shit!" Cloud screamed over the sound of the torrents of water gushing still from the water summon's mouth. They were lucky that they were about to leave, because most of the stuff was already piled on the couch, and Zack and Red (who looked like a water-logged flame himself) were the closest. Since Red couldn't throw the bags, Zack piled a few on top of him, and forced a strap into his mouth. Red stared daggers at him, bucking a bit under the weight, but galloped forward, past the water.

"Catch!" Zack yelled to where Cait and Mog where. The cat grabbed Mog's head as the plushy grabbed the bags flying toward it. It caught them all and waddled away, Cait pulling on his head to help direct him forward through the carnage the house had become.

Cid was still swearing.

Shera looked confused, standing in the hallway with a vase in one hand and her glasses in the other.

It could have been comical if not for the fact that Palmer was still wailing as the water hit him with the force of a five ton truck.

Zack pulled the last few bags and launched them toward Barret (who accidentally dropped one that was grabbed by a soaked Aeris), and finally grabbed his Buster Sword from its place leaning against the couch.

But someone beat him to hurting the lard.

The pig let out a scream, one of the most obnoxious and ear-splitting wails that Zack had ever heard. If he hadn't been holding the Buster, he would have clamped his hands over his ears in intense pain.

"Shut him up!" Yuffie yelled as she finally allowed Leviathan back into the materia. She clapped her hands over her head, and yelled out her demand again.

The man only screamed louder, and it took a moment for Zack to notice that the water surrounding the man was tinged with blood. He was lying with his back on the floor, jerking around with blood spilling from his knees.

Or, at least where he used to have knees.

Now, however, there wasn't anything there but soft tissue.

Two bullets straight through the kneecaps with hollow point bullets.

Zack internally winced. That must have felt worse than what it looked like.

Palmer moaned in pain, fumbling for a phone in his pocket, but Zack was sure that his screaming would attract the Shinra bloodhounds before he could even push any numbers in. For all Gaia knew, they could have been standing just outside the door that was shut by the pulsing water. Bastard was still screaming, too.

"Well, it seems I did not hit anything vital," Vincent said as he swung his cape around him. He was standing in the furthest corner, near the back door. "I believe, that it may be time that we desert this home. I can _smell_ them coming."

"You're supposed to put a bullet between the eyes," Cloud commented coldly. Zack didn't look away from Vincent though.

Different Cloud, it had to be. Mako insane Cloud. That wasn't the boy who told them not kill the children SOLDIERs just yesterday. Even if this mako insane Cloud was just from the injections in the Nibelheim Mansion, it was happening so often that it couldn't be passed off as a simple problem. This Cloud was terrifying; this Cloud wasn't really Cloud. There had to be a way of stopping it.

The others already began to move, Cid pitching the door to the backyard open, grabbing Vincent's cloak and pulling them out into the morning sun. Aeris, Tifa, and Yuffie (who was now clinging to one of the bags and Cait like a lifeline) followed after. Mog, who seemed a little lost without his mechanical cat, wandered around the room for a moment before Red bumped his wet nose against the plushy, nudging him forward and out the door toward the others.

"What'chu waitin' for?" Barret questioned as he stomped out of the house, only stopping for a moment to give a quick, half-mutter apology for the brat ninja. The woman's face looked rather flush, and her quick, panicked breaths were labored with a severe, underlining just how _not_ okay she was. The glasses were even beginning to fog up, even though the room was literally going to become an ice box as soon as Cid's air conditioner flipped back on.

_Well, it's not like I can say "Hey, sorry for ruining your house, but now we have to run off without helping you fix it. Oh, and you've got a Shinra Executive bleeding and screaming on the floor. C'ya!"_ Zack thought with ill-tempered fury. The poor lady; she already had to deal with Cid everyday, and now that Cid was leaving she wouldn't even be able to live her life normally.

"Just tell them it was us, and you couldn't stop us. Say Aeris hit you," Zack quickly said to the woman as he sheathed his sword. He grabbed the lady's hand and shook it hard, the woman barely noticed that he was standing in front of her. "Everything'll be fine, ma'am, just you tell them you didn't know who we were--"

"Zack, move it! They're coming!"

"--and you'll be okay. Okay? Okay!" Zack let go of the woman's hand, splashing through the water toward the backdoor. There wasn't anything else that he could do for the woman, who oddly enough started wiping at h er eyes and moved to the kitchen, grabbing a few towels from the pantry. She didn't go near Palmer (who was at this point now screaming for her to help him) but dazedly began to place the towels on the counter, grabbing china with shaking fingers.

She was making tea.

_Shit, what did Cid do to the poor girl?_ Zack thought as he left the house finally, Cloud grabbing his SOLDIER uniform and all but dragging him through to doorway, much like the captain had done to Vincent not a little while ago.

"Fine, I'll let your punk asses use my plane, but I'm fuckin' going with you!" Cid yelled as he jumped into the pilot's seat, looking at the four other seats. "Just throw your shit in them, and hold onto the wings. We won't be flying very far--this baby probably won't even make it to the shore with all your goddamn weight!" Cid reached down and fumbled with something for a second, before coming back up with a pack of crumpled cigarettes in his hand. he took one from the pack and slipped it between his lips, the stubble rubbing against the paper, causing a few holes to poke through.

"'No one got a light," he said sarcastically, his upper lip curling, before once again shouting for them to get the fuck on the plane.

"They're here," Yuffie shrieked as she jumped onto the wing, her backpack stuck to her back and Cait crushed in the crook of her arm. "I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, _Idon'twannadieIdon'twannadie!_"Hher hands were probably slippery from the water, but she clung as if it were her lifeline.

Red, the only one who wouldn't be able to cling (besides Mog, who was shoved in one of the seats) jumped into the back seat, curling up. He looked terrified, (at least Zack thought so, because he had never seen such a weird look on the beast's face)-- and gave out a startled yelp when Barret tossed some stuff on top of him, crushing his tail. The black man wasn't going to be able to cling to anything, so he forced himself into a seat, probably crushing whatever was also in there with him.

It was chaos.

Cid started up the engine, the blades spinning dazingly fast, and Zack grabbed onto the left wing, next to Aeris and Cloud. Tifa was on the other side with Yuffie and Vincent (who looked unruffled at the fact that they would be flying with people clinging onto the wings). Yuffie looked ill again, probably from the smell she swore that Vincent had, which only made her cling tighter to the wing.

Zack heard them before he saw them, a hundred MPs lined up like little toy bricks, their guns aimed at where they were. There were snipers in the trees, probably, and more soldiers as backup if anything didn't go their way. There was a hush, however, even with the bladed whirring and the engine chugging along. The leaves wooshed, but it was so microscopic that it didn't even catch Zack's attention.

In the distance there was someone clapping.

* * *

Cid was banging something, again.

"Motherfuckin' piece of shit, cock-sucking, good for nuthin' plane! She ain't even a plane anymore--they shot her entire fucking _tail_ off! Oh, my poor darlin', my poor, poor Bronco."

After they get into the sky, only a few feet up by all standards, Rufus had yelled for the soldiers to begin their torrents of bullets. Luckily, they all had decent aim (or really, really bad aim) because none of the bullets did more than puncture the plane. However, they did do a decent amount of damage, and when they all crash-landed into the ocean, it was clear that the damn thing would never fly again. So, Cid began banging on things, and hadn't stopped yet.

There really wasn't anything they could do with a waterlogged plane that wouldn't fly, but Cid began to swear up and down at Yuffie, who voiced this opinion between hitched breaths as the plane swayed against the waves.

"I can make a fuckin' shoe drive--don't go tellin' me I can't make my motherfucking plane to work! I just gotta tinker with this and with that," Cid banged something with his wrench and chewed on the filter to his cigarette. "I ain't going to drown--don't care if you do. By all means--if you ain't happy with what I'm doing you can jump off my fucking ship!"

"But it's a plane," Aeris reminded him. The girls had taken a seat on the left wing; both had sighed with exhaustion and over-heating by noon, and had jumped into the cold ocean to cool themselves down. They had later removed some articles of clothing (Zack had noticed that Cid stammered when he noticed and Barret pointedly refused to look at Tifa's black bra-straps or Aeris's light pink ones), but otherwise no one cared. Even Zack had pulled off his shirt, tossing it to Mog, who happily sat on it to keep it from getting wet.

Everyone besides Vincent (who was sitting near the back with Red, polishing his gun with a thin sheet of cloth, not seeming to notice or care that they were stranded in the middle of an ocean), Zack and Cloud (Who were a little too mako advanced to be really bothered by the heat) were beginning to tan or burn. Red kept himself cool by staying out of the light, but the red fur he had must have been killer no matter. Even Cait's mechanical insides were whirring at insane speeds once again.

"And your goddamn point? I can make it into a fuckin' boat if I want to make it into a fuckin' boat! Don't question me, lady--I know what I'm doing!" Cid gnashed his teeth together and tossed a screwdriver over the edge of the boat, kicking his pack of cigarettes. "Don't ask me anymore fucking questions until I figure out how to fix this fucking piece of shit machine! Not a word!" He stubbornly pointed his chin at Yuffie, who was struggling to say something. "And don't you dare puke on my baby--I'll toss you over and let the sharks eat you."

"Wh-_-SHARKS_? Oh my Shiva--not the sharks!_ Don't play,_ don't play like that Cid! You're such a jerk--_Holy_--_sharks_!" The girl leaned over the side in panic, looking into the water before jumping back. "Oh, I can see them, I can see them! They're going to eat me,_ they're gunna eat meeeeeeeeee._" The girl pitifully curled in on herself, attempting to once again hide herself from whatever monster she was sure would be after her blood next.

"There's nothing there."

"Cloud, you didn't see it! It had _three eyeballs and a huge gaping mouth_--" Yuffie began to sweat profusely, her lip trembling. "It's going to eat me, Cloud."

"Those were the landing wheels," Cid said emotionless.

Yuffie blinked. "Are you sure?" she asked with a weak voice a moment later. "Because if you're lying I'm going to go ninja on you when we get to--_urk-_-land."

"Well, we've got a good three more hours before we hit land," Cloud interrupted the girl's continuing rant over being tricked. "Wutai is about three miles from where I'm going to guess we'll end up. It shouldn't take more than an hour, maybe two, to get there. The city is quite large, however. It may take a bit of time to locate the Avalanche team..."

Cloud trailed off, and Zack took his place, continuing to speak. "Rebels were generally stationed near the Da Chao mountains, and near the pagoda. I remember there being many outbreaks in the northern side of Wutai. We'll probably find them somewhere around the Shinkuti District, or near the lower Mashito District. I'm pretty sure those were some of the main areas for rebel contact. It'll be a bit more difficult to find them, but look for people who don't fit it--foreign people, like those with exceptionally pale or dark skin. If they're wearing something that doesn't fit into the tourist-y area, then we follow them. Barret, do they know of you?"

Barret wiped his hand against his brow. "Yeah, 'm pretty sure they kno' who I am. They gotta be gettin' the messages 'bout what Avalanche did in Midgar, or whateva' they've been gettin' told. I rememba' that Wutai's branch was always a coupla' steps ahead in da game. They know people in da' company, I think. There wuz' some old connections durin' the war that I don't think got broken up."

Zack looked patiently from Barret to Yuffie, who was staring down at the pinkish-red wing. "What's up, Yuffie? Do you know anything about the Avalanche in Wutai? Afterall, you're originally from there. You wouldn't happen to know anything," the ex-SOLDIER prodded, gently. The girl was tied up in knots and loops.

Sometimes I think we forget that she's a little more than a kid.

"Uhhhhh, maybe the Sigon area. It's a ton of sleazy bars and tourist traps, but I remember there being a Butterfly House that my... well... it was a Kagema prostitution ring that was deeply connected with the Wutaian underground. I'm sure if we could get there, then... well, you'll see."

"Kage-wha?" Zack stuttered, unsure of the words. "I've never heard of--"

"It's a male prostitution ring," Yuffie said without looking away from Zack. "It's, you know, where a guy lets another guy do "stuff" with him for a whole ton of gil. They're aren't many left in Wutai, but that one is pretty popular."

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Cid leaned back down and continued to beat the engine with another tool, and the others went back to talking amongst themselves or taking a nap, (Like Red), or in Vincent's case, continuing to polish his gun without notice to anyone else.

Zack took a few tentative steps forward to Cloud, who was once again setting himself a seat on the right wing. "You okay?" Zack asked.

Cloud nodded, sweeping a few chocobo-colored strands of hair from his eyes. He looked older than before; Zack could see that in his eyes. Even with such a bright color, there was a slight shallow emptiness to them. It was only a shallow pond, not the open rivers and seas. Like a shape shifter, this Cloud wasn't his bright blue-eyed boy.

"I'm fine."

"You sure don't look fine," Zack said as he plopped himself down next to Cloud, who scooted a few inches to the left to keep either from falling into the water. Zack let his knee touch Cloud's elbow. "Is there anything I could do to help?"

"You can't kiss me here, can you?" Cloud muttered, his voice low enough only for Zack to hear.

Zack felt a smile pull at his mouth. That was more like Cloud... "You'd hit me if I did, remember? That was the deal."

"Yeah, yeah." Cloud flicked his hand around in a vague gesture to the others. "I'm sure we'd have to deal with a little more than a bloody nose if we did. Though," Cloud admitted, "it'd be nice not having to..." He brought the hand to his mouth to worry at the tip of his thumb. "They'd see."

"So?"

"I don't think," Cloud started, but Zack quickly silenced him by grabbing hold of Cloud's neck. The blonde's eyes widened and began to say no, for him to stop, but Zack paid him no mind. Zack pulled him forward and twisted his body to the side, causing both their bodies to fall into the cold salty water.

Zack opened his eyes; the water didn't hurt SOLDIERs. They weren't very far down, but far enough that Zack knew Cloud wouldn't complain for a moment. His hand still wrapped around Cloud's neck, he brought him forward for a searing, waterlogged kiss. It didn't matter that it was just their lips touching, that their mouths stayed firmly shut. It was the comfort, ebbing away the day. It was just... nice.

Cloud wrapped his arms around Zack's middle and opened his eyes.

And it was refreshing, because through the slight haze of the water, Zack could see the color seep into Cloud's eyes.

Blue.

* * *

**I told you, I'm nowhere near done! Anyway, I hope you all liked it, and I hope I didn't piss off a ton of you.**

**Please Review!**


	73. Don't! Wait!

Author Notes: I am officially no longer a high school student. I cannot begin to explain what joy it brings me to know that I'm going to be in college, and high school and its stupidness is done with for me. I never, ever want to do that again. Now it's summer, and except for a few times I go on vacation, I will be spending it writing. I want to finish Tenacity before the summer is over and start the sequel. That doesn't mean you'll be getting tons of things everyday, as I'll probably spread out updates to a regular time, but it does mean that there probably won't be dry spells. Who knows how it'll go right now?

**NOTE: Thank you, Quiet N Cryptic for looking over this chapter for me! I lurve you! (Quiet is one of my betas, now. Poor thing. So, go huggle her and read her porn. It's gooooood!)**

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Seventy: Don't! Wait!

Yuffie crawled off the makeshift boat (Cid had been correct when he stated that he would be able to make the Tiny Bronco into something that could at least float them to shore) and vomited the contents of her stomach onto the bleached-white sand. Zack had been watching the girl become increasingly nauseous over the ride, grumbling and clutching at her stomach. Not even Cait Sith, who attempted to soothe the aching girl with light pats to her head, was able to keep Yuffie from curling in on herself like a bug.

"Are you all right?" Aeris asked as she stumbled onto the beach, her backpack dropping unceremoniously onto the warm sand. Zack watched as she dusted her hands and leaned down next to Yuffie, placing her hand on the girl's forehead. "You're not really warm. So, at least you aren't sick. Would you like to rest for a little while, maybe drink some water?"

"_Nnnnnngh._" Yuffie hocked a spitball into the sand. It landed a few feet away in the salty waters.

Zack cracked his neck as he slid off of the Tiny Bronco, his feet splashing water and sand against the rusty red side of the makeshift boat. The water, he knew, had once been a beautiful blue. Now, there was a thin film of grime sloshing against the rocks. The scene did not fit into the Wutaian sands or the majestic mountains that surrounded the island, embracing it like a mother would its child. The pollution had been less noticeable further out.

_The ugliness of Crondrel probably caused the waters to become like this. When they burned it to the ground, so many ships and gallons of mako spilled into the ocean. Used mako from the boats, as well. _Zack remembered that the city had been larger than Midgar, though it was now nothing but untouchable rubble. The fires had burned for years, and though the areas that were barely touched still held the poor as a haven, there was nothing else. No one traveled there; who would want to sleep under flames and the charred dead bodies of others?

Zack's toes twitched at the odd feeling of water and sand, but he stealthily ignored it; it was merely bothersome, and he could clean them out later. He held out his right hand for Tifa to grab onto as she splashed her way down, but the woman just tossed him a bag that he nearly missed catching. He just managed to grab the strap before it fell into the water.

"Oh, sorry, Zack!" Tifa yelled over her shoulder as she grabbed another pack, tossing it over her shoulder before she jumped down to the beach. She was still only wearing her black bra, and Zack could see that her arms and face were tinged red with sunburn. It probably wasn't a great feeling for the bag to be rubbing against her tender flesh.

"Need some help?" Zack asked, holding out his unoccupied hand for the bag, but Tifa waved him off.

"Don't worry about it. I've got it. Oh, Barret, don't try throwing Red overboard. You're going to-" the woman said exasperated.

_Splash._

Zack heard the sizzling of water and Red's undignified yelp. He looked over at the beast who was laying half in the water and half on the shore, his legs splayed out in a vaguely amusing pose. Waterlogged and looking quite miserable (though the tail continued to burn merrily and without change), Red growled, "I am not pleased," his normally mild-temperament struck down. He shivered slightly as he wobbled back up, pushing through the murky white sands.

"Nice going," Tifa said, rolling her eyes at Barret. The man didn't have the decency to look ashamed of his wayward actions, even with the woman chastising him.

"No, that was not any form of 'nice,'" Red hissed as he finally managed to get himself fully to shore. Red's one golden eye looked up at the man, though it was clear even from his height that Red was towering over the man. He shook his fur, attempting to rid it of the water. It slid down his back and his paws, spraying out in all directions; Zack thought that he looked a little like a red puff ball. "I assure you that next time we're near a body of water, you should acquire a life jacket, as you will surely sink to the bottom with that hunk of metal on your arm."

Barret laughed raucously. "'Course, dog-beast. I'll jus' make sure I don't get near ya when we's on a boat." He hoisted a backpack from under Mog, whose light pink fur seemed to glisten in the light of the setting sun. The machine rumbled up, lifting its leg before hopping onto one of the wings, nearly knocking Barret himself over.

"If you are quite done..." Vincent slid his gun back into its holster, underneath the red layer of his cape. The man's eyes looked sharply to Zack, who didn't even bother with an answer. The man hmphed in response before gliding (the ex-SOLDIER didn't know precisely _how_ Vincent was able to glide) down into the milky-white sand, away from the water's glistening edge. "We should move forward; it will only take a few hours to get to the lower city of Wutai, and find these acquaintances of yours, Barret." Vincent jerked his left shoulder forward in what looked to be pain (however, Zack knew that it was his way of stating without words that he was finished) before stepping back, his metallic shoes crunching.

Aeris hoisted the ill and pale-looking Yuffie up, her own hair sticking to her skin, a fine sheen of salt water and sweat on her brow. Aeris, in fact, looked almost more sickly than Yuffie did for a moment-skin flush, burned, her face devoted to a grim frown. The girl wobbled and spat back into the sand, Aeris patting her shoulder, like a mother to an infant.

"You okay?" Cloud asked the two.

Yuffie grunted something that no one even tried to interpret while Aeris gave a strong cough. "I'm fine. Just a little wet, again. And burned. Let's get Yuffie somewhere away from the water; she's going to become ill again." Aeris hefted the thin Wutaian girl up, stumbling in the sand.

Cloud grabbed both before they could tumble over, steadying them with the hand not occupied with luggage. He twisted his body around to let Yuffie's head sit against his shoulder, and Zack quickly grabbed the bag from the boy's hand so he could properly help the two.

"Oh, Shiva on a stick," he uttered as he helped the two stumble off in the general vicinity of a road. "We'll be up here..."

"Wait!" Tifa yelled, holding out a backpack in silent offering.

Zack swiftly took the pack, switching it with one of his less heavy bags. "Medicines and materia. Whatever's in here should be able to help settle ninja-princess's stomach. Just get her up there and away from the water." He jogged forward with the small case slapping at his thigh before reaching out and slipping the strap around Cloud's pale throat. "There's some tranquilizers somewhere in there; maybe those will work? Just keep her occupied." He lifted his hands away from Cloud's throat, only letting the tips of his fingers slip over the blonde's neck.

Cloud's blue eyes flashed with a mixture of innocent embarrassment and mature, sardonic amusement. "Yeah, sure." He gave a quick half-smile, which looked more like a sneer, before tapping Aeris on the shoulder and tightening his arm around the woman, who was still holding a shaky Yuffie.

"And make sure miss Princess doesn't suddenly decide that's she's perfectly fine running off to go chasing treasure. I remember having run-ins with a little kid like her that would run off into the wilderness and get herself into trouble just for the kicks." Zack swatted the girl's back playfully as they began to move forward, a misshaped and deformed train going at varying speeds.

"Damn brat, yackin' everywhere. If this was still my baby, flyin' like she should be, I woulda kicked her little butt right into the West Ocean. Conniving little brat," Cid gruffly stated, chomping on the filter of his cigarette. There were a few dried tobacco leaves stuck in his gums from his earlier chomping on the actual cigarette by accident. Zack has seen many habitual smokers shove the wrong end of their sticks in their mouths and light it; or bite down on the wrong side only to realize that they were wrong when they had the disgusting flavor of rat poison on their tongue.

Zack used to smoke. He hadn't really been addicted to the nicotine or even the flavor, though. He didn't care so much for the taste of the ash in his mouth, but it was something he had done without much thought. At first it had been just good, old-fashioned showing off when the older kids in town would manage to get their hands on a pack of their father's packs. Most of the other kids and parents had expected it from the "wild child" he'd been. Fairs were everything and more-little hellions with penises and a vulgar enjoyment for breaking the rules. Not cruel, but not well behaved either.

Then, when he got to Midgar, it had become a social activity-sitting in the middle of the bunker, chatting about the latest shit (as SOLDIERs didn't talk gossip in the way teenage girls did) and looking at old porno mags, wishing that they could go down below the plate for some fine ass and tits. He did it because he was Zack, and everyone loved Zack.

After Angeal, once he became closer with Reno, it had been something that was just him. Stress, overworking, continued mourning; Zack didn't know if it was one or all of the above. Reno always smoked shitty and cheap cigarettes, something that seemed to befit him-them. Aeris never liked the smell of smoke and once she found out about Reno, it became a calling card for guilt.

Cid held out his red and white striped pack in offering.

"Naw, don't smoke anymore." Zack waved his hands around in circles before tucking one behind his head, even with the weight of the bag in the crook of his elbow.

Cid cackled as he lit himself a smoke. "That's the first time I ever heard of someone sayin' that they don't fuckin' smoke anymore. You're a weird kid, kid. Now... Titties, I'm gunna need you to scoot your ass over, 'cuz this baby's gunna need to be pushed. No matter what she looks like, she's still my baby, and I ain't into the idea that she'll go floating down to Mideel. You three-" Cid jolted his thumb to Zack, Barret and Vincent, "You get offa your asses and come help me push this girl onto the sand, 'way from the shoreline. I ain't hearin' nothin' about how you don't fuckin' wanna."

Vincent glowered. "I am... indisposed at this particular moment in time," he said, nonchalantly waltzing off with Red near his heels. "We will be off. Doing something that will involve nothing, I am sure."

Zack licked his teeth, running the tip over the pointed edge of his canines. "Well, I don't think they're be much help."

"Oh, you shut your mother-fuckin' asswipe mouth and grab one of the propellers. You too, Boobs. The ones with the dicks, at least I think Vampy has a dick, ran off and so I get stuck with you." Cid kicked something inside of his cockpit and swore indecently at the sound of his foot hitting painfully against the side.

"You deserved that one," Tifa growled as she dropped the bags into the sand, now that she would have to play pulley to the machine. "Sexist pig; if I was that poor lady I would have whapped you over the head with your precious tea pot by now."

"Shut yu'r mouth and get movin'!"

"And you're not gunna help, Cid? Let me guess, you're just gunna sit up there and let us do the hard work." Tifa snorted appreciatively. "That's a great way of making the damn thing heavier. And it's your plane _anyway_!"

"That crashed because you're a buncha fuckin' terrorists who wanted to steal it in the first place," Cid replied hotly. "Don't get Holier-than-thou on me, Boobs. You ruined my baby-I coulda thrown you and your nutjob friends overboard."

Zack wanted to smack his hand against his forehead in frustration, but a wild, electrifying scream shattered the bickering and the dull thud of the engine. Zack looked up, his head twisting sharply to the area that he_ knew_ Cloud and the others had ran off to. It was the same area that the scream had come from.

Tifa and the ex-SOLIDER shared a quick glance before running off, the sand flying from their feet, tiny pinpricks of pain shooting into Zack's eyes as the wind picked up the particles, whirring them around his face. They hadn't gotten too far off, just at the edge between the beach and the rocky, muddy slope that lead to the roads. There was smoke and steam in the air, a humidity that made Zack's spikes stick to his neck and reddening cheeks; Tifa looked even worse. Even if his body couldn't feel it as much as others' Zack knew that they were standing in the middle of an egg cooker.

"Cloud! Aeris-Yuffie?!" Zack yelled through the dense smoke and fog. Tifa coughed behind him, waving her hands around to clear the air so that she could breathe. "Guys? _Guys! _Scream if you can hear me." Zack's boots thudded into something wet.

He leaned down and touched whatever it was, only to pull his hand back bloody, slick red warmth and hair. He couldn't tell what color it was from looking, only that it was stained red.

Zack fell to his knees, rummaging through the fog, noticing that it was slowly diminishing. He grabbed onto the body, pulling it forward and towards him. The body was slack, not breathing. He, as it certainly didn't have a female body, was wearing simple garments with a shoulder brace-SOLDIER garb.

_Cloud, oh Holy, no._ Zack's fingers shook as he guided his hands to the face, feeling it. The skin was soft, but there was perspiration and the muggy air's chill to his bloody skin.

Finally, the smoke cleared enough for Zack to see that the person's face wasn't the one that he had panicked over. It was a SOLDIER Third-Class, that much he could see from the helmet nearby and the color of his clothing. Zack wanted to scream in joy, do something, but instead he only closed the boy's mako green eyes and lightly placed him back on the ground, the back of his skull caved in. It wasn't Cloud, but he was still a person. A person who had died-but why?

Zack looked up to see Aeris next to Cloud, both tucked in the mud, their eyes closed as if they were dead. But, they were only asleep...

Tifa stood next to the two, brushing her hands over their faces and their shoulders, gently jostling them in hopes of waking them from their sleep. Why were they asleep? And where was Yuffie?

"Yuffie?" Zack yelled, wiping his bloody hands on his pants, leaving gory matter to stain it. "Yuffie! Where are you?"

"Don't you see," Tifa began, more forcefully pushing at Aeris and Cloud, to the point where she was holding Cloud's shoulders and shaking him. "She did this!"

And, indeed, she had.

And got away with most of their materia, too.

* * *

Once awakened with a face full of water, Cloud recounted the story of exactly what had happened. Apparently, the blonde said with sarcasm, the little brat was faking most of her pains and shakes. The brat (Cloud refused to admit that the girl was human, let alone _Yuffie_) got them to go far enough out that she could ransack them in peace and make a clean getaway. However, a few Shinra SOLDIERs hadn't been lucky, as they got into a fight with them as she tried to pick them blind, and had been caught in the crossfire of Ifrit and Leviathan, who had both faithfully attempted to protect their masters.

_That was why there was such scalding steam everywhere-fire and water both kicking into one another, _Zack thought as he listened to Aeris's steady breathing and Cloud's angry rants. The blonde was pulling at his hair and fuming-it was as if Ifrit had lit him on fire, as well.

"And when the smoke was up, she grabbed my materia from my wrist--" Cloud lifted up his arm to show that the little bracelet he wore with his summons materia was nowhere in sight, "and ran her little ass back to wherever the fuck she came from."

Zack rubbed at his eyes, seeing speckles of fatigue. "Well, did you see what way she ran? Red, can you smell her?"

Red, who had his head resting on his paws, lifted up his nose and took a few, half-hearted sniffs. He didn't look pleased with whatever he smelled, and placed his head back down near the dirt. "Nothing. She is a smart girl-water, steam, fog-they all displaced my sense of smell. And since she hasn't had any candy for a short while, I can't use that as a placer. I'm sorry; I wish there was something I could do." The beast looked guilty and off-put.

"Don't blame yourself," Aeris said as she leaned down, running her fingers through Red's dirty, matted fur. "You tried your best, right? Then we'll just have to figure out another way of taking care of this messy situation."

Cloud scoffed and kicked dirt into the air. His face was contorted with anger, eyes slitted and lips drawn into a thin, sliver of a line. "By the time we find her she'll have pawned off our valuables and we'll have to go searching for them, as well." He worried the tip of his thumb, biting at the nail and pulling at the skin. "She's probably to the capital now, doing a circle-jerk with her materia and trying to catch the next ship to Midgar. She's going to get there and rip someone else off, probably worse than us."

"There is still time for us to get to Wutai and perhaps find her and retrieve our materia. I am unaware of the dealings of Wutai merchants, but Yuffie is a smart thief. She will want someone to pay the highest price for the materia she's smuggled off. That means black market dealings, because materia is essentially banned from the country." Red lifted his head up and accepted Aeris's soothing touches. He sighed and closed his one good eye.

Vincent, who had forgone polishing his gun or his metal arm, stood diligently before them, his head up, eyes scanning the surroundings. It would be dark soon and Wutai had been known for its brutal monsters and landmines left as a memorial to the death of their once prosperous nation. He was poised and ready for an attack in any direction, even the ground they were standing on. "We can get to the city within a few hours, if we are lucky. There will not be enough light, so we must take precautions against entrapment by Shinra forces and landmines. Unfortunately," Vincent pulled his cape down, revealing his pale mouth and thin lips, "we will not be able to do both. To stay on the path means meeting foes, while leaving the path can cause explosions that will give away our position."

"Tactically, it would be best to simply walk the paths," Zack said once Vincent pulled his cape back up, covering the exposed mouth.

Vincent nodded his head twice before turning, his cape a flash. He walked swiftly toward the nearby trail that would lead through the thin smattering of mountains, pulling his gun from his pocket. "I will scout ahead. I will send my summon should I run into anything. He will know the way."

"Mister, what summon do you have?" Cait questioned, his ears drooping down, crown lopsided around his head.

"He is Odin. He is the horseman of the Apocalypse, or so they say. He will not attack, so do not fear him." Vincent's voice was filled with hidden humor. Of course he would find it _funny_. The man continued to walk, his back to the group, long cape fluttering behind him, and Zack glanced away from Vincent to the others.

"Well, we'll just have to do what the vampire says, don't we? Shit, I don't like this, and I sure as fuck don't like the idea of that little brat runnin' around with my shit attached to her back like a fucking shop. I say when we find her, we hang her upside down from a tree and leave her there to figure out her own fuckin' way back to her daddy," Cid stressed, fingering the new pack of cigarettes in his jean pocket. "I ain't got the time to be lookin' for the little shit for long, and we gotta get out of here." Scratching the shadow of hair on his cheek, rubbing engine grease against the blonde hairs, Cid reminded Zack of the technicians that played in the bomb field a few miles away from Midgar, where they would set their explosives off for the kicks.

Cait Sith sighed and rubbed his gloved hands together. "Oh, dear me. I can't believe she would do something like this-and I liked her, too!"

"I think we all feel that way," Aeris said as she picked herself up off the ground, dusting her hands on the other side of Red, who didn't even bother to look up. "But, there isn't anything else that we can do except find her and find our materia before it disappears. Now, who's with me?" She smiled, her cheeks a little burned and her eyes a little more dull than usual. Zack also noticed that he hands were shaking a little, just the slightest of tremors that Zack only noticed because Aeris was usually so composed.

He wanted to ask her if she was feeling well, but didn't. Aeris wouldn't like all of the attention on herself; she just wanted everyone to get moving, to follow the trail that Vincent was leaving behind, to maximize the last hours of daylight before the Wutaian darkness took hold. There were few things darker than that, Zack knew. Even with his mako-enhanced eyesight, it would be no prance through the fields. And since there was only one Mako Reactor that gave power to the tourist parts of the country, there wasn't even the usual haze of mako pollution, its stringy green clouds, to help guide them.

"We better get going soon," Tifa said as she also pulled herself up, grabbing a nearby pack, pulling out a bottle of water and tossing it to Barret before zipping it up and pulling it across her burned shoulders. "We should get this done with so we can get our materia. She took all of our healing materia, and I want to get to the headquarters as soon as possible. I'm sure someone there will be able to heal us and then tell us where we can get hold of some black market materia."

Barret took a large gulp from the water before passing it to Cid, who then passed it to Cloud. "Fine," Cloud said as he removed his thumb from his mouth, popping the top of the bottle with his teeth and taking a long swig. "Let's get to it. Get the Mog and we'll get going."

* * *

They reached the downtown area of Wutai about an hour after the sky filled with darkness. The place was easily seen in the dark, and they followed the dirt path and the paper fans that glowed with mako electricity on the outskirts of town. The bright colors threw techincolor lights in all direction, and Zack thought that it was beautiful. The last time he had been anywhere near Wutai he had been branded as an evil monster and blew up Fort Tamblin. So... an evil monster wasn't too far off the mark when concerning Wutai's opinion of him.

Zack watched the bugs, large cicadas with overlapping wings and large bodies, circle and land on the paper lanterns. The spun in the wind, around and around, the lights and the colors flashing. They chirped a song of warm nights _(nevermind the fact that in Midgar they were probably facing freezing temperatures)_ and warm beds. Peaceful, even while surrounding a city that was, for all intensive purposes, a broken huddle in the middle of a mine field.

They walked down the path, streamers and thin confetti snuggling against their boots, cicadas the size of two of their fingers flying around their heads, knocking into lanterns and branches. Thick trees, ones that had stood erect for hundreds, possibly thousands of years, enveloped them with their green leaves and thin, willowy branches. The tress were refuge from the moon; it didn't shine tonight, and it would probably not shine the night after, nor the night after. However, moon lilies sprouted from the ground, more exquisite and pale than the glorious orb that rotated around Gaia.

"Was there a party?" Cloud asked as he inspected the crumpled pieces of paper from the ground, twisting them into a tiny knot between his fingers.

"Probably a festival," Tifa answered. "I think there's some kind of holiday soon for Wutai. I wouldn't know, though. Zack?"

Zack continued to walk down the winding lane, surrounded by paper and light. "I don't know. Maybe? Couldn't say for sure, anyway."

"Don't you know the language?"

"Yeah, some. I haven't used it in years, though, Tifa. I haven't been here since I was... I couldn't even say, to be honest. I think I probably still know the basics, at least. Enough not to get me shot for having mako eyes." Zack clucked his tongue and stopped in front of a tree, leaning forward to run his hand over the old, twisted bark. It radiated its age, twisting the wood and sap into a memory of its years it had been alive, breathing in and out. Like a human, Zack thought as he whisked his hands from the bark, rubbing the sticky-sweet substance onto his trousers.

There were people around, though Zack could only see the silhouettes of their faces, hidden within the trees and the darkness. Zack knew they were staring at their group, more particularly at Cloud and himself. Their eyes were bright; enemy eyes. No one said anything, however. They were supposed to be subservient to Shinra, now that they owned their land. Even if Wutai was the home of terrorist organizations, they had to pretend like they were powerless-weak like an infant in the mouth of a beast.

Zack didn't go up to anyone to ask for directions. It was safer that way-and anyway, if they knew who Yuffie was, they would only lie and give them trouble.

"Keep your head down," Zack whispered to Cloud, taking a few mock steps, allowing the man to catch up with him.

"And what about you?"

"The sword gives it away. Just keep your head down, and everything will be. Well, not okay, but not bloody." Zack tried to laugh, but it didn't work.

They walked through the large, weathered gates to the lower district, and the first thing Zack noticed was the smell of burning wood and metal. It fluttered in the weak, fluttering wind, and melted together with the scent of old fish and sea salt. It was a potent smell, but not too disgusting, Zack acknowledged. In fact, it was more than acceptable if compared with Midgar's heady, cloying smell of mako and rot. It was a mix of wooden and metal buildings next to each other in a miss-matched pattern that Zack could only follow for a little while before starting over again.

"Where would she go?" Aeris questioned, pulling at her bangs, willing them to cover her forehead. Her cheeks were flushed red; there were many men who gave her looks, though none would come up to her. She was a foreigner-they could almost smell it on her, something different than what they were acquainted with. She may have been the prettiest person for all they knew, but they wouldn't look at her as anything but a tourist or an enemy. That was how the people of Wutai lived throughout their day-to-day lives-their heads down, hoping that Leviathan and the Goddess would understand.

Until they got their hands on some materia and bombs, anyway.

"It's so clean," Tifa said, running her fingers over one of the nearby railings of a small metal commuter's bridge. The metal was tinged with the rust caused by being so close to the sea, the salty water blowing through with the evening breeze, setting a film of red across most of the metal. However, aside from its rust and age, there was none of the graffiti that littered Midgar; no trash piling up, stacking taller than the buildings before it. There was no smell of corpses and body odor, even though Wutai was still considerably poorer than many other cities. Its 'urban' setting was still so very new compared to what it had been twenty years before-thousands upon thousands of standard, beautiful Wutaian homes and businesses made from the rocks of the mountains and the bountiful trees the land and their deities blessed them with.

"They respect their land," Cloud answered, diligently looking around to see if anyone was nearby. His head stayed low until Zack could see that the surroundings were clear. When Cloud noticed, as well, they looked up. "Even with Midgar and Shinra heavily influencing Wutai and the mainland, it is against their ways to treat the land disrespectfully. The people would still plow and sow their land if they were allowed to, you know. It's a shame, actually. Wutaian people are generally peaceful, but they can be brutal when it's called for. They're kind of like the land in that regard."

Cid tossed his empty pack of cigarettes to the ground, crumpling the cellophane with the heel of his boot. "I ain't gunna give two shits 'bout keepin' this place clean. They didn't care 'bout that when they went and burned down Crondrel, now did they? That caused a massive fuckin' explosion, killed a million or so people. Good people-jus' 'cuz they were across the way."

"That's not true." Red sat down near the bridge, watching a few cars pass by. "It was Shinra who did that."

"Red's right, it was Shinra," Cloud said, huffing as he flicked hair from his face, reaching subconsciously for Orios. "Trust me-my mother was there."

Cid's eyebrows rose. "You gotta be shittin' me. Ain't Crondrel one of the damn reasons that the war started? I know it was cuz Shinra wanted to plant their reactors here, which they got, but wasn't it Wutai who attacked first?"

"Propaganda."

Cid didn't say anything after that, but neither did he lean down to pick up the trash he littered the street with. Barret, oddly enough, was the one who huffed and puffed, but ended up picking it up and smushing it into a tiny ball, before throwing it into a nearby container. He cursed at Cid, who didn't do anything but tap his spear against his shoulder and adjust the goggles around his throat, the grease and oil wiping against the glass. But, it wasn't so bad, Zack admitted. It was a quiet walk, considering how large the city was, how many people lived within its confines.

Zack, after about thirty minutes of wandering the street almost aimless with confusion, tapped on a man's shoulder. He was sure after a minute that the man was displeased, even going so far as to brush off the place that Zack had touched him for imaginary dirt, but complied to his question.

_"Where can I find Kisaragi?"_ Zack asked in the man's native language.

He looked taken aback-most Continental wanderers didn't bother with other languages; they expected to be handed what they wanted while talking in thick, Kalm or Corel drawl._ "Kisaragi? As in **the** Kisaragi?" _

_"There's more than one?"_

"There's the child and the father," he said, whisking has hands around. _"Which one?" _

Zack could have gone with the father-gotten the brat's father to give up where she was hiding, but Zack remembered that Yuffie didn't seem so fond of her father, at least in the few off-color comments that would occasionally sneak out of her. _"The child, if you would." _

The man nodded, but looked confusedly at the trailing group, shaking his head in wonderment. _"All of you?"_

Zack told the man yes, impatience chewing at him. Who cared if it was everyone? Unless the girl really was royalty... but Zack snorted and chewed on his tongue before he said anything. No reason to bother the man with a foolish girl's ranting and raving.

_"That cat, as well? And the... women? How bizarre."_ The rest of the sentence was mixed and muddled, too complex and wordy for Zack to understand. He caught a few words, something about butterflies and nighttime, but it meant little to Zack.

"This guy is gunna bring us to where she is. Apparently she's somewhere around here."

Cait Sith's ears finally perked up. "You mean we'll find the lassie, bring her back with us?"

"No, most certainly not," Tifa said heatedly. "She lied to us! And-she's do it again if given another chance. Do we really need to be watching out for monsters, Sephiroth, and a sneaky little thief? Someone say they agree with me. Barret? Vincent? Cloud?"

Vincent, who stuck to the shadows of the town, hiding between the buildings and the trail of people, made his presence known by stepping out, allowing the others to catch a glimpse of him. He said nothing, but that was not an affirmative. He swiftly turned back around after a moment, clinging to the shadow again.

"I'm gunna 'gree with Tifa-ain't no way we're lettin' sticky fingers back wit' us! She's lucky if I don't fill her wit' lead, little shit. We ain't got the time ta be runnin' 'round trying to catch her an' all this. Fuck playin' this game again. We find her, take our stuff back, and leave her with her mommy an' daddy, let them deal wit' her." Barret hmphed in anger, wiping his head with his bear-sized palm. "Let's jus' go find the little shit an' get our stuff back. Then we can jus' go find Avalanche's headquarta's an' come up with a plan. They can probly' tell us what's goin' on with Shinra-where they're headin' and what we can do ta stop 'em."

Zack didn't say anything about what he wanted to do to the girl, though it seemed less than painful when compared to what the others were thinking.

* * *

Zack entered a sturdy building made of wood about ten minutes later, giving the man who had lead them there a confused look. He had asked, just to make sure, if it was the right place, but the man was adamant. Unsure of whether he had stated the name right, Zack rephrased the sentence, but the Wutaian just said again, _"Yes, I'm sure. It's here. Right here." _

The smell of perfume and tea wafted around the lavishly furnished foyer, many men sitting on the ground with greenish tea before them, being stirred by an assortment of beautiful, painted people. There was a boy who couldn't have been older than twelve, his lips bright red and his eyes garish with color.

A girl probably younger than fifteen, wearing a form-fitting red and black kimono, sat with her feet under her, chest heaving as the man she served tea to stood and gestured to another man. She stood on her dainty feet, her inky black hair combed back ceremoniously. The obi was tied in front of her, the bow around her waist covered in beautiful cherry blossoms. Zack tried to remember the meaning of the obi tied in the front, but it simply escaped him. The girl did look vaguely familiar, however.

So many men, though. She was the only girl that Zack could see.

The others had stayed outside, fearing that too many people would cause a scene. It was good that only Zack was let in, though. This wasn't the place that it looked like from the front, that was for sure.

"I help you?" a boy dressed in traditional robes asked, his face pale and slender, powdered with makeup. He was young, as well. They all were...

"Uh, Kisaragi?" Zack asked.

The boy looked down at the papers in front of him, his hands running over the thick books. He grabbed a volume and flipped to a page, beautiful and neat Wutaian writing calligraphed from right to left. "Appointment, just now." He gestured to the woman who had walked by with two business men a moment before.

"You're sure?" The boy looked confused, so Zack repeated himself in Wutaian. _"That's Kisaragi? Are you sure that that was her?" _

A smile split across his face, and he answered in Continental. "She? Kisaragi is good, too good. That is 'she.'" The boy's cheeks were a rosy blush like the roses surrounding the foyer, and he seemed to be eyeing Zack. In fact, many eyes were staring at him between thick, mascara-ed glances.

_Oh, damn. Is this the place that Yuffie said she knew about, the Butterfly House...? _Zack waved shakily at a few of the hungry, doe-eyed boys who stared at him with their red lips moist and parted. "Uhm, uh. I need to see her, now."

"Five hundred gil," the boy said, promptly picking up a calligraphy pen, dipping it in the onyx inkwell. "And name. Busy until tomorrow night. You come back then."

"No, now."

"No, busy," he said, once again gesturing to the way the girl had gone off. "Tomorrow."

Zack huffed before placing his hands over the boy's, gently but firmly. "Now, please."

"No."

"Fine," Zack seethed before ripping his hands off the boy's and spinning around. He took large strides, faster than the boy running in his traditional robes, towards the door that the girl, Kisaragi, had gone into before with two other men. Damn it if the girl was doing something lewd; Zack had seen boobs before-it wouldn't kill him. He wasn't going to wait around with his thumbs up his butt, either. They needed to find Yuffie, and if this was in fact the Butterfly house connected to Avalanche, they would understand.

_"Stop him! Akina--guards!" _the boy yelled loudly in Wutaian as he skirted around the other customers. Zack, one the other hand, splashed hot tea from bowls and knocked over the men (not the boys, because they were faster than the aged men who were their company), not giving a fuck.

Zack finally got to the closed door, the wood cold against his fingers. He grabbed the handle. It was locked. So, rather than wait for the Wutaian boy and the guard to come get him, he smashed his foot into the door. The customers were in a panic, and the workers were attempting to calm them from the ruckus. Zack didn't care. Why would Yuffie be here? And why mention this place specifically?

The door cracked open, thudding against the wooden door, spraying splinters across the room. Zack knew that it probably wasn't in his best interests to be making such an intense fuss about this, but what if it was Yuffie? Zack didn't think the girl was a prostitute-but what if she owned the place and was escaping out of the back room right now?

Obviously that wasn't the case, he noticed the minute he looked over at the bed, seeing the girl on the bed, her chest exposed, obi wrapped around her genitals, which was a phallus, not a vagina. The two men had their pants pooled around their waists, but were pulling them up as they saw Zack at the door, eyes round like materia. The girl (Zack didn't know what she... he...it? Was) glared at him through Kohl smudged eyes and hissed as she pulled her obi from her... extremities and draped her kimono back over herself. She then pulled up her sleeves, avoiding her face with the expensive material. She yelled something of a curse and brandished her finger, pointing at Zack.

By the time Zack looked away from the girl (or not girl, whichever) the guards and the boy had caught up to him and the men were running out of the hallway to the exit.

_"Kisaragi! Yuffie Kisaragi--I need to see her!"_ Zack mangled in Wutaian, hoping that his pitiful and nervous face would stop the girl from letting the guards drag him away. _"You're Kisaragi!"_

The girl stood, stumbling with the long draping ends of her obi, adjusting herself. The two guards and the boy, who was huffing with overexertion, looked at the girl, whose slanted eyes looked pointedly at Zack's face.

She didn't speak any Continental, and Zack had difficulty understanding her because of the old, almost archaic form of Wutainese she spoke. However, then men seemed to understand her, and the boy told Zack, "Akina want to know why you looking for beloved sister."

* * *

**So, I told you Yuffie has interesting family members. I, for one, love Akina (or, as you will find out next chapter, Akira is her biological name.) You'll probably love her, too. I've had her planned out even before this story—I've just struggled with naming her and what I'd write her in. She was originally meant for a Reno/Rufus story I wrote a long time ago, while the Wutai War was going on, but I figured that she would have a better place here. Anyway, more will be discussed on her in the next chapter, when you finally get to understand a little more about Sephiroth, the Wutai War, and Yuffie. Woohoo! Also, a quick note, an obi tied around and bowed in the front is a signal of a prostitute. Thank you Sakura (Orchid Butterflies) for helping me out with that and Akina's name(s)! **

**Please Review!**


	74. My Brother's Keeper

Author Notes: I'm going to ramble for a second, but please just understand, okay? My mom recently had to have several tumors removed, and for a while I was pretty much mommy while my mom was in the hospital, then at home resting. It's taken about a month for my mom to finally be feeling better, which is awesome and means I have a little more free time. However, remember that I'm Co-Admin of the Genesis Awards, am going to be going to college in August, and have to still take care of my family. It's taken me far too long to get this chapter out, and I know... Which is why there's a surprise for you all at the end.

Another tiny note is that if you've ever read any of my sex scenes, that I have absolutely no shame. A cock is a cock. If you don't approve of that and wanted a bit more of a flower description, I'm sorry that I wasn't able to give it to you. I love and respect you all, so if you're not into that kind of thing (AKA, I know some of you probably are a bit young to be reading rated M stories...) you'll know when to stop and skip.

Also, the chapter name is after Cain and Abel, the two brothers from the bible. Their relationship was bloody twisted and amazing, and it fit what these characters all do to one another, and how they change each other. I have mah reasons, yo!

**NOTE: Thank you so much, Quiet'N'Cryptic for betaing this chapter. I luvvs you. **

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Seventy One: My Brother's Keeper

Zack worried his bottom lip, tugging at the flesh, and rolling it around. He didn't know why he felt like a two-year-old in Miss May's clinic on the other side of Gongaga, but it could be partially blamed on the looks that some of his comrades were giving him. It's not like he'd known for certain what the girl--boy--uh, person... was doing when he'd busted through the door. He figured Yuffie was a sneak and that was what he needed to worry about.

"You know," Tifa started, curling almost into herself on the floor, "there's got to be more to this than..."

"I agree," Aeris said abruptly, not letting Tifa finish her sentence. "This is too... odd. Even for us. We have all seen odd things, but this just about takes the cream off the top of that cake." Aeris sat cross-legged near the door, occasionally glancing over to check if anyone was moving around. "Yuffie's younger sister--"

"Who don't appear to be a sister after all," Cid replied, his face an ashy gray. "I ain't never seen sumthin' like that in my days, and let me tell you how many girls I've picked up for a night on th--" Cid silenced himself. He looked around the room, twisted the tip off of his cigarette, and sighed.

They had been in this room for well over an hour. Their weapons had been removed from their persons, and the boy Zack met when trying to get into the place looked more than a little smug at the sudden turn-about in events. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Zack tapped his fingers on the floor, feeling Vincent's gaze, as well as Cloud's, following him. The others would look from time-to-time, but those two almost always seemed to be following him.

Cloud sat next to him on the floor of the Butterfly House, his hand tapping next to Zack's in a synchronization of movement. Occasionally Cloud's hand would sweep against his with a flourish, and the ex-SOLDIER would feel a little less guilty. Even though the boy--girl--damn it, Zack didn't know what Yuffie's sibling was-- said he would be back to speak with them after appeasing the clientèle that Zack had burst in on (his mind wandered to the idea that they were probably finishing up in some other remote corner of the house,) it hadn't yet quelled his fear.

"What if she doesn't come back?" Cloud voiced.

"Well, we break out of here in two hours, and we go searching for the little brat ourselves," Zack answered. He pulled at the corner of his shirt and bit down a little harder on his lip. "It's not like we had many options to start with. We'll go with the flow. And even if Akina does tell her sister we've been around, you gotta remember that this is still Avalanche Territory. I'm sure even if Yuffie's some special ninja chick she's not a higher rank than, let's say... Barret."

Barret was standing near the window, his hand resting on the curtains. He was staring out the window with a frown, his dark eyes glancing from one window pane to the other. "Sure, whateva'. I ain't got nuthin' ta say righ' now. We jus' gotta find out what's goin' on then get our stuff back, 'fore she sells it. I ain't got no patience wit' dealin' with this kid anymore."

"Patience is what we will need to succeed in this mission," Vincent said after a moment of contemplation. "We will need to wait and secure knowledge of what situation we will be going into. It would be brash to jump the gun and run off." Vincent's back was rigid against the paper-thin wall. He rarely looked away from Zack, his red eyes burning into Zack's brain. "Yuffie is a formidable foe."

"Don't joke. Yuffie isn't a formidable foe--she's running around playing a game while people's lives are at stake. She is acting as immature and volatile as she always has been. Brash and incomprehensible. That's the way she works, and that is why we should have left her tied up in that damn camp near Junon," Tifa spat her sentence out with venom. "She's a little child who isn't going to get her way--not anymore."

Cait, who had taken to sitting on Red's shoulders, made some sad, annoyed sound. "The lady is right, but so wrong. Miss Yuffie isn't playing a game; she's doing something she thinks is noble and heroic. I know you all aren't very pleased with her," a few well-deserved snorts came from all sides of the room, "but we can't think of blaming the lassie before seeing what's going on in that little brain of hers. Can't we sit down and wait for Miss Yuffie's sister to come back, explain to us what's happening?"

"You're putting a lot of faith in a person who you've never spoken to before."

Cait wobbled off Red's mane, nearly poking the beast in the eye. "Miss Aeris," Cait said over Red's hissing, "don't say things like that! I've spent a lot of time with Miss Yuffie--she's got to have a reason."

Cid snorted contemptuously. "It wouldn't surprise me any if that little brat was the one to fuck up my baby."

Zack rolled his eyes to the ceiling, looking at the plain, ugly brown paint. "Don't fool yourself, Cid," Zack began. "The reason your plane fell out of the sky was because it was _shot_. Unless you'd like to blame that on the kid..." He didn't finish his sentence, but then again, he didn't need to. Zack kept his eyes drawn up, instead of looking around the room at the people he had grown close with over the past few months. Companions... even with their bad sides, they were growing on him. Even Yuffie. The little brat.

Zack felt Cloud's hand brush against his own as they scooted closer. The bed's frame was digging into his back, leaving an impression, surely, but it didn't really bother him. He didn't want to be in this room that reeked of sex and sweat, perfume dosed over the walls, the bed, the sheets.

He wanted to go somewhere else in this big beautiful city. Even though he'd spent so much time here as a SOLDIER it wasn't the same. (Damn operations seemed to last for an eternity before he could go back to Midgar for a few easy assignments and to feed his fish... Reno probably let them die over the course of the five years stuck floating around like a limp fish.) Wutai was a beautiful place, and even if he spent years investigating its every twist and turn, lighted lantern or home, he would never truly understand everything. That was the kind of place this was--constantly changing, like the sweep of a Wutaian woman's fan.

"I'd like to show you this city when we're done. Just walk through the rose courtyards and the artisan's quarters. I think you'd like it," Zack whispered. Cloud could hear him--Cloud could always hear him.

It seemed that Red did, as well... However he didn't say anything, and instead looked away, half-sleepily.

"You know what?"

"What, Aeris?" Cloud asked, pulling his hand away and sliding it behind his head, ruffling at his hair.

Zack looked over to the woman, who was ruffling at the hem of her dirty dress. The bottom was growing threadbare, little fuzzy stitches poking out, snagging on things as Aeris moved. Zack knew that it was because their equipment was low and they only could carry so much clothing. But they were becoming ragged, weary with travel.

Aeris made brief eye-contact with him, but before anyone could so much as move the door was thrown open and the beautiful young girl wondered back in, her kimono tied in the front, her makeup reapplied to her delicate, thin face. She snapped out a fan, waving it before her, as if to rid the stench. Her hands were dainty, tiny things, reminding Zack of Yuffie's hands when she went to swipe their things the first time, in that big forest. It was almost uncanny how her thin fingers spread across the delicate lace and designs. She was much more graceful than her sister.

Akina glanced through her thick lashes, her gray eyes blazing. She muttered something, and snapped her fan down, shutting it against her thigh.

"I don't think anyone's understandin' you, darlin'," Cid said, waving his hand around his face.

The girl rolled her eyes and with a bit of force she muttered, "_I do not speak your tongue, continental bastard." _

Zack almost chuckled, but figured his reaction would be inappropriate. Instead, he wiggled his foot underneath him and voiced what the girl said, his words more delicate and deliberate than hers.

"She doesn't understand our language, and I can't really understand her," Zack said as her pushed himself off of the floor, his knees nearly buckling underneath his weight. "Maybe we should get that one guy—the one from before. She's speaking archaic language, and all I know is the basic, more modern-time."

Zack bowed as though she were female, which Akina seemed to approve of, before stating in flustered Wutaian, "_I can't understand you well._" He walked around the others, turning his back to the girl until he felt her hand rest on his wrist. The cool touch was like ice cubes down his skin.

"_He understands me,_" she said with finality, and when Zack turned he saw her closed fan poised in her hand, pointing at Vincent. "_Let him do this." _

The ex-SOLDIER shared a look with Vincent. The man stood stiller than Zack had ever seen him, his eyes trailed down at the floor. His eyes were half-closed, and Zack would have thought he hadn't heard or understood what the girl was saying until he gave a brief nod, not more than a twitch of his head down.

"Uh, okay," Zack said as he directed his attention from Vincent back to Akina. "She's all yours, man."

Red peeked his eye open as Vincent stepped forward, his boot clanking near his head. Zack saw that both he and Vincent shared a look, one that Zack did not understand, before he retreated back to the bed post, sitting down next to Cloud. He pulled his knee to his chest and wrapped his hands around it, anchoring himself to the floor. "I'm all ears, and I'm sure we've got a lot of info to go through."

The girl fluttered to her knees in the center of the room, the obi tied around her front engulfing her slender hips and thighs.

"It was not always like this," Vince said, his voice gravely and hoarse. His cloak whispered against his lips, and he sighed. "Traditions, traditions... family honor, dignity. I cannot blame him, and I know that Yuffie does not either, but before I begin, I must tell you of Rei."

* * *

"'This place was a beautiful, bountiful city, a metropolis of the Wutaian nation. Over twenty million people with strong, beautiful hands and open hearts. They prayed to the Goddess Minerva for good harvests and bountiful fish from the sea. There were other gods and goddesses, too, and Da Chao preached of them to our ancestors. He was the guiding light of Wutai, though I cannot say when it was. Perhaps when the Great Death washed against our shores, but I can not be certain. As a child, I was pious to the teachings, going through the old books tucked away underneath the pagoda. That is not the case, anymore. My hands are too stained to touch such holy books.'

"'As the times changed, as the people began to leave with ships to the continental countries, the prayers and worship became archaic, barbaric. Those who studied were frowned upon, and those who traveled to see this Planet were placed upon the pedestals that our gods and goddesses were placed on. Shameful, disgraceful!'

"'Those who left brought the world of the Continentals with them, and this is what we have now; people who are broken, who have been trampled, who have let this land become a warn-torn Continental resort.'

"'My father was accepted as Lord when the first war broke out between Wutai and its rivals. It was well over thirty years ago, and it spanned until my sister's birth. Those who had left and traveled the Wutai Sea to the Eastern continent had brought mako back with them. Our people did not want to touch it, to have any part of it. Our Gods and Goddesses dove into the streams, down to the core of our planet and gained the knowledge of this world. To begin to drain that, to use its to power our homes and light our fires was preposterous.'

"'Godo was skilled, and he managed after the first war to keep the two worlds from clashing. He erected borders, prevented our people from leaving, and theirs from entering. Of course, this could only last so long...'

"Three years later, I was four, beginning to learn in the pagoda, to ready myself to be one of Wutai's protectors. There are children, commonly girls, who are taught to protect materia, our coveted and most prized possessions. They were the souls of our gods, the souls of our ancestors. Men are inherently less beautiful than girls, but I was different. My father believed that one day he would castrate me, allow me to become what I truly wanted. They called me Akira, then.'

"'My beloved sister was taught the same way. She was my age, as well, though only a few months older. I am the child of Godo's second wife, and Yuffie is the child of the third. The first wife lives in the pagoda to this day, her body still pure.'

"'We shared a brother, who was trained to be the next ruler. He was fifteen at the time, still soft with childhood, though battle-trained. I don't believe he was able to draw blood then, though I know he could have if he had been given the time. He did later, of course. All of our hands are stained.'

"'His name was Rei.'"

Vincent stopped for a moment, and Zack saw it was because the girl beside him silenced, her face drawn down, her eyes closed, her child-like hands wrapping around her fan, over and over again. After a few breaths she continued, her voice only wavering at the beginning. It grew stronger.

"'We shared the same mother, but he treated Yuffie with affection he only rarely shared with me. They were close, probably because she was much tougher than me, more harsh and rough. She would scrape her knees up running away from the pagoda, while I stayed willfully inside, locked among the scrolls. They would mock-battle, and he would show her how to live like paupers and pick the pockets of the guards outside our home. Our mother spoiled us, though Yuffie's was much more stern, less willing to bend rules. Sometimes I wondered whether or not I was born by the wrong woman...'

"'That was the year they sent the demon, the monster, the angelic murderer to us.'

"'He was still a child himself, only seventeen, according to the articles that were read to me later. Shinra sent him as a courier, at first. Then, he began his assaults on the villages, began to attack the people, began to kill our country for our mako.'

"Rei met him on his first mission, the day he was meant to spill blood. At first, my brother pulled his sword from his back, ready to kill the man of this opposing nation, this threat to our very being. I cannot say what happened next, only that my brother spared his life, and secreted him away in a Southern district of this city. Some say it was to gain more information, some say it was to blackmail Shinra into leaving. Yuffie believes it was because he wasn't able to thrust his sword into someone still breathing.'

"'Two months of recovery, and then Rei let him go, sent him away, told him to leave Wutai and never come back. Sephiroth--'" the girl shuddered and Vincent stopped, but Akina only batted her closed fan. "Sephiroth left for a short while, only to come back to destroy Nagatsu, then Wannatahi, then Batoki. A list of towns, a list of dead. His name was a dirty word that was not to be spoken. This continued for near two years, and our people began to crumble. There is only so much a people can take before it begins to crumble.'

"I was five, and my sister six. Rei was seventeen, and our father wished to wed him off to a bride, one worthy of our family. He refused, and from there things began to change. Godo questioned and dug, searching for an answer that was better off forgotten. He found it; records of two times that overlapped. Kuduzaki Watashinu, one of the most famous Generals of our time--'"

"Wait!" Aeris yelled out suddenly, holding her hands high over her head, calling for a time out. "I know that name! It was the General who--"

"Sephiroth and Genesis Rhapsodos killed at the peace treaty signing," Cloud answered. Zack thought back to the boat, the execution of Heidegger, and...

"How did you know that?" Zack asked, confused. Cloud was trapped in the basement, with Sephiroth giving him company before they could get there. They had given the blonde the run-down later, but Zack didn't remember mentioning Kuduzaki Watashinu.

"You told me, Zack," Cloud answered, his face full of confusion. "What's wrong with your head today? And they taught us in class about how it was a folly and how it was Wutai's way of lying, but I figured as much. It was execution."

Zack wanted to say something, but Akina coughed and Zack felt Vincent's blood red eyes staring into him, projecting the word "shut up" across the few feet between them. "Uh, sorry," Zack said, before the girl huffed and resumed her speech.

"'Yes, Kuduzaki Watashinu. The same man slaughtered by Sephiroth later, sending us back into a war for another three years. Until Tamblin fell, that is...'

"'But Kuduzaki Watashinu was a man of power then, and he controlled that part of the army. They say he had spies set up with Shinra, an exchange of information that kept him well-informed. He spoke with a veteran Shinra member by the name General Travis Marshall, Sephiroth's commander during that first mission in Wutai, the one where he was wounded. They followed the trail to the home here, a few blocks away from this place. It was their place of meeting, trading secrets, laying with one another and making love. I do not wish to dwell on that particular side of their relationship...'

"'They caught Rei, questioned him, and he denied any wrong-doing. But it did not matter—Godo saw him as an enemy, the whore who spread his legs to the enemy. We have a tradition for such dishonor, even for the Lord's son...the only one that he considered a possibility to be his heir. It was brutal, what they did. They shackled him down... they... they brutally assaulted him before handing him over to Shinra soldiers, to General Marshall and his men.'

"'He did not break. My brother is strong because of it, and his soul is untarnished. He fought like a warrior, a strong and good man. His punishment was worse than death; shameful and brutal beatings, savage rapes... I heard that they stabbed out his eyes. His eyes were so bright, like the paper lanterns on a moonless night, and they crushed them, blinded him. Even then, he refused to say it was Sephiroth, that Sephiroth was the man he cavorted with. Sephiroth may be the demon of Wutai, but Rei sacrificed himself to his silence, to his angel with the demon eyes.'

"'The demon found Rei like that, over a month of his torture. I have only heard whispers. They say my brother was close to death, and how Sephiroth granted it to him in the end. I can only hope that he was gentle as he slit my brother's throat, because anything else would have only added to his pain. But before that he killed every soldier within the compound; he murdered them and strung their bodies outside of the pagoda's gates. Later that week, Sephiroth brought with him Genesis Rhapsodos, the fire beast. They came into the pagoda and laid Rei before my father. They called for this war to end, that it was time to finish it.'

"'They lied.'

"'Sephiroth said he wanted to mourn for Rei in the pagoda. Godo objected, at first. However, Sephiroth was too smart, too calculated. It was against Wutaian traditions to forbid a lover from entering the chamber of his dearly beloved. He stayed down there for a week. You do not leave for meals, for water, for anything. We believe that the body can wait while the heart mourns.'

"'And during that time, he plotted.'

"'At the end of the week, Rhapsodos had drawn the papers to end the war, leaving Wutai to its people. Sephiroth was to stay in the pagoda while Rhapsodos signed the papers. However, the people were deceived. Sephiroth was in that locked room, I do not know how. I do not wish to know, because it would confirm the fears of my people that he is truly a demon. My brother never called him that, not to me. They killed Kuduzaki Watashinu, then proceeded to murder Godo's first and third wives in a bloodbath.'

"'Kuduzaki Watashinu was dead and Godo was left to mourn both his wives. The contract breached, and Rhapsodos and the other man were left to fight against an enemy that did not have a head. My brother's body was removed from the pagoda, and my father labeled Rei as a cohort to Shinra, the prostitute of Continentals, and since then... I have not been outside of these walls. My mother was blamed, her poor bloodline at fault, and I was part of her, too. Godo threw me from the temple and left me here. He cut off my hair and told me to be the whore of my mother's loins, to be my brother. I am to be a kagema, to live here forever. That is my punishment. I must pay for the sins my brother committed, that my shamed mother committed.'

"I have never been male. I do not know how to be one; it is not in my nature. My father does not seem to care, as long as I stay here, continue to pay off my debt to the Kisaragi name. I have no family name. I am only Akina, the man who is a woman. I am Akina, the owner of my own prison, the owner of this house. Yet, no matter how much money is paid to the Kisaragi family, to Godo's pagoda, it is never enough. Yuffie, she has forsaken her teachings, refused her title. She became a thief to save me. Our connections to the lowest beings of Wutai grow as my debt becomes larger, and no matter who has more materia or stolen Gods and Goddesses, I cannot repay it.'"

* * *

They were offered a place to sleep that night, in a nearby hotel that the Wutaian branch of Avalanche ran. Zack accepted for everyone, because in the end, it was where they needed to be, anyway. It seemed that Yuffie had swung by with a large quantity of materia and items, and had indeed planned on selling it to people in the underground market as payment for her sister's debt. Akina sat in that bedroom with them for another hour, listing the things she and her sister did to try and regain her freedom. They had blackmailed and killed, and Akina had even spread herself forth to any being who had some name, some way of helping. Yuffie began to pick-pocket, a lesson taught by their brother, before moving up to stealing materia and, more specifically, summons.

Zack felt his stomach drop when he thought of it; Yuffie's obsession was less to do with it being shiny and expensive, and more to do with saving her sister. And, Zack thought, a chill running down his spine, every time Yuffie touched a ball of materia, she had been trained to fall to her knees in prayer. Yuffie, the little materia thief that didn't like people, that ate too much sugar and cursed too much, felt like she was breaking herself every time she cast a spell or called Leviathan from her watery tomb.

"I don't know what to do," Zack said as he slammed himself back onto the bed. He turned his head to the right, and saw that Cloud was staring up at the ceiling, a sad and lost expression over his features. _Good_, Zack thought as he swung his fingers over the side of the bed, touching the floor. "At least I'm not the only person who feels a bit like shit to be doing this."

"She said that she had given up." Cloud looked over and twisted his body so that his cheek landed on Zack's chest. He stared up at him. "Akina said she gave up, and that she'll be making sure that we get our stuff back before anyone can buy it. But, I don't understand how someone who runs half of Wutai through an underground channel doesn't have the money to--"

"It's not about the money," Zack said, pulling his hand from the side of the bed, placing it on top of Cloud's head. He ran his fingers over Cloud's skull, feeling for that small place that he could touch that would make him purr. "If it really had to do with money she'd have been done a long time ago. Godo Kisaragi blames Yuffie's half brother and Akina for destroying Wutai and forcing them into this mess. That debt can't be paid off, ever. To pay it off, Shinra would have to leave Wutai and surrender the mako." Zack finally felt the small place on Cloud's skull, and softly pet it, stroking his fingers against the soft flesh and hair.

"Nhh," Cloud sighed, content. He closed his eyes and leaned into Zack's hand before seeming to notice what he was doing. Cloud stopped, pulling his head a little away from Zack, whose hand flopped down to his stomach. Before Zack could move his hand again, Cloud leaned a little forward, placing his cheek across his knuckles. "I just want to stay here with you for a little while, to not think about all this."

Zack felt his pulse quicken. Was Cloud...?

"I, um. Yeah, 'course babe. Here." Zack raised his other hand and put it on the back of Cloud's neck, rubbing in soft, leisurely circles. "Is there anything I can do to get your mind off of all the bad junk going on?"

_Oh, nice going, moron. You're propositioning him for sex after meeting a fucking kid forced into prostitution. __**Nice. **_

Cloud exhaled a long breath, tickling Zack. He could feel the hairs standing up on his skin. "I don't know... it's quite late, and these walls are a bit thin," he joked, but at the same time his pink tongue darted out to swipe against Zack's hand, running against the curve of two of his fingers and then up to his knuckle. His other hand stopped, and for a moment it seemed that his rubbing had encouraged Cloud's nerve, and that he was going to stop. Instead, he took in a deep breath, very humid against his skin, and continued up.

Cloud kissed Zack's arm to the elbow, where his night shirt stopped him from continuing. He made a small sound of displeasure, rubbing his nose against the crease in Zack's arm before finally looking up, his eyes wide.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Cloud said honestly. Zack saw the smattering of freckles across Cloud's nose and cheeks darken as blood rushed to his face, but after a second he shook his head and with both hands grabbed Zack's. "So, I'm going to improvise."

They knew they had to be quiet, that even though there were two beds in the room acting as their cover someone could start asking questions as to why they heard soft moans through the walls. The room to the left was the girls and Cait, and to the right was Barret, Cid and Nanaki. Vincent had opted for his own bedroom, which was the furthest away... but it was still just downstairs. Only a wall between them... and the floor. The floorboards creaked whenever Zack jumped on the bed, and that would be one of the worse possible things to happen...

"Turn the volume to the television up a little," Cloud said as he let go of one of Zack's hands. The man quickly went for the remote and pushed the button, bringing the volume up a few notches. Some Wutaian midnight movie was on, a girl running off with ribbons in her hair toward a cliff or something, not like the raven-haired man really cared, considering that Cloud was on top of him and twining their hands together...

"I'm going to kiss you," Cloud whispered as he leaned down, ghosting his lips across Zack's. They were cool and wet, though the blonde's breath against his mouth made Zack fight back a groan.

"'Kay."

And Cloud kissed him, his lips pressing down onto Zack's, his tongue darting out and into Zack's mouth, probing against teeth and tongue and lips. Cloud dominated this kiss, controlling how fast and how much tongue was used, and when he would gyrate their hips together. The fact that he held Zack's hands, their palms together and yet pinned to both sides of Zack's head...

He had felt many things in his life, and had many sexually-charged encounters, but this was the first time that he had a virgin on top of him calling the shots. Cloud leaned up for a breath, his face flushed.

"Cloud?" Zack asked, suddenly feeling his shorts become a little tighter. "You've never done this with anyone, have you?"

Cloud laughed. "No," he admitted, almost shamefully if Zack understood that little catch in his voice. "I... never found anyone before this. Before you. I want to ask you, but at the same time I don't think I really want to know."

The tightness in his shorts lessened. "I could tell you if you wanted, Cloud. We're in this together, and if you want to know, I have no right keeping it secret."

The blonde pondered this, pushing their hands further into the blankets. "I... I don't know. Is it a lot?"

"Depends on what a lot is, probably."

Cloud's blue eyes darkened, as he said, "Go on..."

Zack bit his lip and listened to Cloud take in a few more deep breaths, before answering. "I've had sex with five people. There was a girl in Gongaga that I dated before I left, a secretary for Shinra who ran Sephiroth's fanclub, a girl when I was on leave in Costa del Sol after...Angeal died, a woman who was a pre-med student at the University of Midgar that I dated for about four months, and... Reno." Resisting the urge to bite his lip, Zack looked up to his best friend's face. "I had flings, occasional making out with people, some random hand-jobs, and one woman who was Sephiroth's secretary that wanted to play kink with me and her cat, but that's everyone."

"Aeris isn't on that list," Cloud commented.

"No... we never got that far." Zack didn't want to admit how close, because he knew that Cloud already knew.

"That's... That's not that bad. I was figuring more flings, since you're such a ladies man."

"Hey, don't make fun of my wit and charm, Cloudy. I've got skill. I don't need to have sex to have fun, you know. Like, I can do this--" Zack pulled Cloud back down on top of him, wrapping his legs around the blonde's waist. "And then I can do things like this," he whispered as he craned his neck forwards, licking Cloud's exposed throat, running his teeth over the soft skin. He could feel Cloud's erection pulsing against his own, but rather than diving for it and grabbing, he let Cloud take the lead again.

"Only a little bit," Cloud whispered as he bucked his hips and rubbed both of their cocks through their shorts. Zack shivered and jerked his body up to meet Cloud's feverish grinding, matching each movement with his own. Shorts be damned, this movement, their bodies pressing against each other and their hips swaying to a beat that only they could hear... this was one of the most erotic things that Zack had ever experienced in his life. Their clothes were still on, only a little flesh touching flesh, but this movement and the symphony of their breath made Zack's entire body twitch with a groan.

He didn't want to come before Cloud did; this was Cloud's first anything, and Zack knew that until Cloud came he wouldn't be able to, either.

It wasn't long before Cloud's eyes opened wide, his body going nearly rigid. He was still so hard, rubbing against Zack, hoping that the friction would lead them toward orgasm.

"Zack," Cloud groaned, his hands tightening onto Zack's hands, pushing himself up one last time before his entire body hitched and he slammed himself against Zack before bucking his hips wildly. The raven-haired man felt himself readying to come, his cock almost begging for release as Cloud thrashed against him. He opened his mouth to tell Cloud that he was beautiful when the blonde released their hands and cupped Zack's face, crushing his lips down on the other.

It helped, too, because suddenly Zack felt Cloud hitch himself up so that Zack rubbed straight against Cloud's clothed ass, and he nearly yelled as he came. Cloud's entire body trembled above him, and Zack felt his entire body go limp as Cloud kissed him, and he kissed back. The stayed there, not moving, only breathing harshly against each other until they caught their breath.

"That... that was," Zack started, but Cloud cut him off with another kiss.

"Next time you be on top," Cloud said after he pulled back, falling over to the side limply. "I got... kinda carried away."

"Never say that. We're together, and there's no way you can ever get carried away."

Cloud curled up against Zack's side, sliding one arm underneath Zack's neck and the other across his chest. "We are together," he murmured, hiding his nose inside the ex-SOLDIER's ebony hair. "Always."

"Yeah, Cloud. Always."

"And... Zack. We'll figure out a way to take care of everything in the morning. I've got a feeling." Cloud tried to smile, but he seemed to be as tired as Zack was.

"Course. Mornin'... everything's better then."

* * *

**Cough. So, it wasn't a full out sex scene, but I think that it's moving about quite well, and it's not really going too fast or too slow. I hope that it wasn't jarring, because I've had that planned out for something like... 40 chapters. So, yes. First sexual encounter? Yay? Nay? Par-tay? **

**Please review!**


	75. Can't Forgive You

Author Notes: I am currently editing all chapters of this story and cutting out anything that isn't important. This version will stay the same (except for small errors) but another copy will be found on my Live Journal.

**NOTICE: This chapter was betaed by the lovely QuietNCrypic. Without her love and devotion, this chapter would have taken another money and would have been a thousand times less awesome. Thank you, Qui-Qui bear!**

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Seventy Two: Can't Forgive You

The next morning Avalanche met... Avalanche.

If Zack was still as naïve as he had been as a cadet, he would have expected the Wutaian Avalanche to have their arms wide open. Yet... he wasn't.

"_I think that we should tell them to go fuck off_," Hiroshi said with a scowl. The man was in his late thirties with silver-peppered hair and deep frown lines around his mouth. He held himself up with a cane and walked with a slight limp. His left foot was gone, probably blow away by a stray land-mine that hadn't hit its intended target.

The Butterfly House was almost devoid of the life it had held the night before. Akina said that it was because they were night-time dwellers who slept during the day and worked at night; prostitution was much easier under the folds of darkness. There were a few people speckled over the expanse of the foyer... those were Avalanche members, Zack guessed.

"_Calm yourself, Hiroshi. You should know better than to act without thinking._" The girl next to Hiroshi was much less intimidating than the man she hung around with. Her name was Midori, if he remembered correctly, and she was probably once beautiful. She had that shine to her, one that Zack thought was bottled innocence. Even though she couldn't have been older than twenty (and that was pushing it) she seemed so very, very sad. It was probably accentuated by the tree-gnarled skin around her glassy left eye.

"_I think we should just kill them and let Yuffie do what she pleases. Oh, do not give me that look. You know what she plans on doi__ng with the money she gains from selling those people's materia. Once she has Akina back, then we can finally move on with our plans for Godo. He's gone senile in __his __old age._"

"_You're one to talk, Hiro. But..._" the girl stopped and looked over to Zack, her right eye critically inching over his face. "_Akina says that her sister is wrong. It would be best not to feudally fight over trivial matters anymore. _What are you looking at?"

Zack didn't think she was talking to him until the girl raised her chin defiantly.

"We're just here to get our materia back," Zack answered after a brief glance at his teammates. Cait was off with Akina in a separate room, probably talking about Yuffie, and Cloud was sitting on the floor with a rag next to Vincent, both polishing their weapons. Aeris and Red were sitting on Wutainese blankets eating chilled fish for breakfast. Tifa, Cid, and Barret were at the bar, speaking in hushed tones, occasionally (and guiltily) looking over to where Zack and Wutai's Avalanche were standing. They both seemed very interested in Hiroshi and Midori. Birds of a feather, maybe, but there seemed to be something else in their glances.

Midori clucked, her tongue darting over her top teeth. "What do you plan on doing once we give you your materia back?" she asked. Zack saw her hand twitch to her belt, and there was a sudden flash of decorated steel before he jumped backwards, pulling the Buster Sword from over his head. He blocked the girl's throwing dagger before spinning to the side. His feet went into position as he pulled the Buster Sword into position. The others were on their own feet before the second knife could come whizzing by and hit Zack's sword. It fell to the floor with a plunk.

"_Not bad,_" Hiroshi admitted. The man placed his arm on Midori's back for the briefest moment before pulling away. "Making sure you aren't slow, dumb fools."

"Oh, thank you so much," Tifa said scathingly. Her fists were clenched and her left leg back a few inches to give more power to her attack.

Midori looked from one face to the next. Zack could almost see what she was probably thinking—not what she was expecting (Shinra and Yuffie's interpretations of them were severely lacking) but not bad, either. "We could have made a decent team," she said.

"Probably not."

Midori skeptically looked away from Zack to Barret. "We know of you," she said. "We've been in contact with a man in Corel Prison. He says he wants to join the cause. He said he knew the leader of Avalanche's Midgar branch. You."

"Dyne." Barret looked over the barrel of his gun, swiping the safety back on. "Fine, I'll listen. You ain't gunna fuckin' pull any other shit, are ya?"

"Just checking your reflexes," Midori said innocently, batting her right eye. The other continued to stare forward dully.

Zack turned to the others and nodded. He caught Cloud's gaze (and had to tighten his hands around his sword's hilt to not smile) and nodded. "'Kay.

Hiroshi touched the decorated wooden wall, running his palms over the scarred wood. "She'll be coming in a little while. Yuffie was in contact with us a few hours ago. She wanted us to set up a meeting for her to sell the equipment. Usually we use this place for our dealings, but we received a special offer from someone named Don Corneo."

Zack lowered his sword to his magnetic sheath and scratched his head. "But why is Avalanche consorting with the enemy? You can't really be saying that the black market doesn't care about dealing with Shinra's goons. Which, by the way, Corneo most certainly is." Zack felt a twinge in his face and looked over to Cloud again.

The boy looked like he had been sucking on a lemon. His lips were puckered and his fingers were twitching around Orios, the dark steel glistening like twilight. "Corneo's here?"

Hiroshi nodded. "He came last week," he said shortly, "and we are aware."

"Then why would Avalanche be playing with him?"

Midori shared a look with Hiroshi. "Well," she said as she turned away, "we have never liked him. He can barely afford to keep up with his obsession for the boys here, let alone pay for Yuffie's cache of materia. He is associated with Shinra, but used to control most of the underground. His name has a lot of influence."

That was true. Most of the slums were dominated by Corneo and his posse. It wasn't surprising that he had connections with other countries, even the ones that once were at war with Shinra. But the way Midori looked made Zack think there was something...amiss.

Hiroshi banged his cane against the wooden floorboards. "We are only doing this because Akina has asked. We do not agree with this decision; the money your materia would make could possibly be enough to overthrow Godo from his place in Wutai. We could stop this country from continuing down this road of poverty and back into the country it once was. However," Hiroshi looked toward the double doors on the other side of the building, cocking his head back, "Akina has requested this. She is not pleased with Yuffie."

Midori called over a boy from behind the counter (the same boy that Zack had tried to get past the night before) and tapped her wrist. The boy shrugged his shoulders and slumped forward.

"_Riku, go get Akina. Tell her that we plan on using the old underground temple for the proceedings,_" the girl said.

Riku bowed, his back a little too straight. There was a permanent frown marred into his face. Zack could only imagine why the kid was acting like he was.

_Maybe he doesn't want to betray the women who will be his queen, _ the rational side of his brain shouted. That could probably be it—Wutai still had to protect its only heir, as the other child was shacked up in a prostitution house. Displeasing Yuffie—who could hold him hostage or kill him as a traitor wasn't a good way to start out the week (athough, Zack admitted, that sounded a far cry from the girl who had puked her brains out in a bag in the back of the van.)

They waited impatiently for almost three hours—Cloud and Cid had taken to playing a card game while Tifa reorganized the bar (to the choleric distaste of the original bartender.) Cait came back a little later (Zack wasn't sure what was with the robot, but he didn't want to bother asking), perched himself on Vincent's shoulder and refused to budge, babbling into the man's ear. Zack wondered if Vincent would turn into one of his beasties and take a chunk out of Cait—or eat the entire mechanical being. The others had gone for a walk, Barret mumbling about finding another phone, and both Aeris and Red claiming the need for fresh air. The tea, sweat, semen, and perfume was heady—even with the windows open as far as they could be.

Zack was beginning to wonder how long they would continue to wait when Riku entered the front door, his hands occupied with papers. Strands of hair stuck to his sweaty forehead and his mouth was turned down in a grim frown.

"_They'll be expecting them,_" Riku huffed as he heaved the papers onto the front desk. He wiped his brow with his sleeve. "They leave now."

Midori leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss to the boy's temple. He swatted her away with his sleeve, only causing the woman to laugh. "_No need to be bratty, Riku,_" she admonished before sticking out her tongue.

* * *

If the Butterfly House smelled like whores, the temple was cats and mildew. The house above the temple housed hundreds of furballs (Zack thought it was adorable how a few of the kittens were brave enough to jump on Red's back and mewl—not that he'd ever say anything, though.) Besides the feline infestation, the temple grounds were scattered with cloth that had turned rank with decay, and there were candles... everywhere.

_This looks less like a temple and more like a love den_, Zack thought as he kicked an old robe to the side, the once-silver material matted with cat fur and grime.

It was dark, and though the hot Wutaian sun beat down on them from above, the temple was cool, albeit clammy. Air and must bore down on Zack and the others... as well as Corneo.

Corneo was blithely unaware who was in the room with him, barely looking up from the two prepubescent boys feeding him delicate fruit. His teeth gnashed into the pulpy flesh of a blood orange and Zack grabbed Cloud's arm, preventing him from bashing the man's skull in with Orios.

"Not now," Zack carefully whispered. He could feel Cloud coiling like a snake in his grasp, and he had to shake the kid a little to snap him back to reality. "Wait until we get our stuff back, and you can do whatever you want. Shhh." Cloud's arm twitched, but Zack ignored it and ran his fingers over the goosebumps.

"Bastard," Cloud said, an undercurrent of malice shooting out like daggers. Zack wasn't sure if the comment was aimed at him for stopping Cloud or Corneo, so Zack accepted it as a jab at Corneo.

Standing in that room, sucking in kitty-hair and Holy knew what else, Zack felt the walls _staring _at him. It was a familiar feeling (downright disturbing, if he dared to ponder on it) but he didn't know why. However, his musing was interrupted by Yuffie, who barged into the room, Akina holding her arm possessively tight. Zack could see the outline of her face in the candlelight.

"_Absolutely and totally not! __Kina—I won't do it! Oh, let go of me; I'm still your older sister, and I totally can still boss you around. No—let go! I can't go in there. I can't do it, Akina. Please, c'mon, just let me do this. I'm your big sister, and I need to take care of you!_"

But Akina's back was straight, her eyes narrowly staring at Yuffie's forehead (averting her eyes every chance that Yuffie tried to grab at her face.) "_No, you will do this, and you will do it right now._" Akina turned, her slanted glance switching from her sister to Zack, and then to Corneo. "_You know what you need to do—I can take care of myself._"

Yuffie pushed her sister away, red marks blazing across her arm. "No," she yelled in Continental, causing Corneo to glance her way, his piggy eyes focused on her (albeit small) chest. "I won't, I won't! Akina, you stop this shit right now and. Let. Me. Go."

Of course, the words seemed to flow over Akina's head. She didn't understand the Continental language, and even with Yuffie screaming at her (she knew that screaming equated to bad, so there wasn't any issue with sallow glaring) she was only able to understand the feelings, rather than what was being said. Zack was sure it wasn't that hard, even with the language barrier.

"Eh," said Cloud, "it'd be great if you could just give us our things back now, Yuffie. We're done playing with you." All the pity that Zack had for Akina (that she didn't really want) couldn't change the fact that Cloud wasn't going to let them leave without their stuff. Their materia. All of it was with Yuffie, and it would be miserable to have to kick her ass. Especially with her little sister around.

"I don't need to give you jack shit!" Yuffie hoisted herself up to her full height—she wasn't all that tall—and lifted her quibbling chin. Her gray eyes were filled with something, something that Zack couldn't quite register, and they narrowed, a thin line creasing against her brow. "You dragged me along! I didn't want to hang with you—you could have let me go at any time and I would have been fine!"

"Except for trying to _steal_ from us!" Cloud shouted.

Corneo was looking more interested in what was going on in front of him now, swishing his arm in front of the harem of boys cluttered at his feet, his chin wobbling dangerously. He peered at Cloud, scrupulously dashing over every inch that the light allowed him to see. Zack noticed that Cloud went rigid, his entire body so solid that pieces could have broken off in his palm. The guy was so close that there wasn't a chance that he couldn't notice Cloud. Those mako blue eyes couldn't be forgotten.

He wasn't sure exactly what happened after that. The room went dark, someone screamed, and then there were hands and cackling and like a whip being cracked Zack was down on his knees. The air was staunch with something—fucking sleep powder, he noticed, fighting against the sweet lulling bliss. Cloud's arm was going limp in his grasp.

"Cloud!" Zack screamed as he pulled harder on the boy's arm, the goosebumps rubbing against his palms. The smoke was in his face and hair, and even though he was a SOLDIER the powder was working well on his system. Not like the others—Akina and Yuffie were unconscious on the floor, and Cloud was slipping fast.

It was a good thing that the others had stayed behind at the Butterfly House. If they had come along, they would be dealing with the same situation.

Zack covered his mouth with one hand, hiding himself behind his splayed fingers. It did little to help, but it was better than nothing. The choking around the room, and the peaceful murmurs of sleep tugging at him, desperately searching for a hole to bring Zack down into the bliss of idle sleep.

A gun went off, soldiers around them... everything was groggy. What was Zack supposed to be doing? Something slipped through his fingers like Gongagan dirt... was he supposed to keep clinging to it?

_C'mon, moron, Cloud. C'mon, don't fucking fall asleep; SOLDIERs don't do that._

Zack tried to reach out, to grab something (_what was it, again?_) but his hand only met the sharp gust of air from a body moving, falling.

_Crunch_

He fell to his knees as something smacked into his temple, sending him down to the floor in a scattered heap of tired, sagging flesh. Grabbing for something to pull himself up, because he was something important, and he needed to do something heroic, he flustered. His hand met the cool edge of steel before pain blossomed from his skull and the light above him—a solitary candle—went out with a gust of wind.

* * *

Zack felt like his head was full of fluff, or that there was water clogging his ears. He groggily opened his eyes, staring at a molded silver robe (_this looks kinda familiar..._) What the fuck was going on? One second they were doing something, and the next he was conked out on the floor, miserably alo—

"Cloud?" Zack jumped up, his feet precariously wabbling under him. The soldiers and Corneo, and that little fucking brat Yuffie. Where did they go? But... "Cloud?!"

There was no response.

"_Fuck!_" Zack bellowed as he examined the room. The dirty ground was splotched with boot-prints, and tiny shells of sleeping powder lay scattered hap-hazard around the room. Zack narrowly avoided setting one off, and headed for the stairs in the dim light.

His feet carried him quickly up the stairs—a scuffle of some kind (_no shit, th__ey fucking dragged all of them up, and fuck—why didn't I see that was going to happen?_) and a few drops of blood. They were sparse, maybe a nosebleed, and when Zack placed his fingers against it the blood smudged between his fingers. Still wet.

He lifted the blood to his lips, nearly pulling his face away from the overpowering scent of the blood. It was human, very obviously, but it was also tinged with mako. If he tasted it, he knew, it would be like sucking on metal. Cloud—or someone that also had mako in their bloodstream. The soldiers... they were Shinra, yes, but they weren't obeying orders in any way. Rufus was a fuck, but a smart fuck. They had Wutai in the palm of their hand; little pieces of broken Wutai resisted, but were paper lanterns on the ground, boots crushing them into bloody dirt. This wasn't the work of Shinra, for once. Just a sad, disturbingly disgusting old man.

He stumbled his way up, the light blindingly bright. So many faces stared back at him as he briskly strode through the crowds of people. It seemed that they were all staring at him, watching him with heavy-lidded eyes. It was almost like every single person on the street at that moment understood his plight, and was mocking him.

He moved through the crowds, keeping his head down. It only took him a few minutes to wander back into the bar, several anxious faces glaring back at him through the milk light.

"Where's Cloud?" Tifa asked, her face going ashen.

"And our shit?" said Barret.

"And Miss Yuffie!"

"Shut up, you fuckin' robot," Cid grunted, spitting out his cigarette.

Zack stumbled forward, catching himself on the front counter. Some of the boys were now up and about, moving through their daily routines of dressing and making teas, readying for the men who would come to them later on in the evening. Someone grabbed his arm, and Zack was dimly aware that to the others he probably looked a little drunk.

"He's been Confused," the person holding his arm stated with absolute certainty. It took Zack a minute to realize that it was Aeris.

"And Sleeped..." he contributed.

There was a bustle of movement—Zack was pulled forwards with gentle hands, led to a small chair that Zack's fuzzy brain couldn't truly determine was there. Something was pushed into his hand, and his mouth was forced open and something warm flooded his mouth. He nearly coughed as the sickly-sweet taste of a potion washed through his being. It was always uncomfortable to be subjected to that when newly awoken—or any time, for that matter.

Zack felt another hand on his chest, and turned to see Tifa's eyes staring down at him, calculating. "Where's Cloud?" she asked again.

"Corneo." Zack felt the effects of the potion streaming through his system, mind clearing. The sudden accompaniment by the others had almost thrown him back to sleep, or into confusion, but he mentally snapped at himself. "He's with Corneo. They took him from the meeting, with Akina and Yuffie. I don't know where they went, or why they went, but they're gone."

"Then we have to find them!" Tifa wrapped her fingers around Zack's bicep, pulling him to his feet. "Corneo probably wants to kill Cloud—don't you remember what happened in Sector Six?"

Of course Zack knew what had happened in Sector Six—he knew why Cloud was in danger. The pit in his stomach was a piece of iron, and Zack berated himself momentarily. No sitting, no time. He had to get Cloud now. The potion was clearing the fog from his mind, and there weren't hours upon hours of time to find them. Corneo was probably planning something nasty right about now, and...

"Okay," Zack shook his head, a few flyaway hairs pelting his cheek. "Split into three groups—Cait, you go with Red and Barret; Cid, go with Aeris and Tifa; Vincent, with me. Red goes south, toward the river, Aeris goes West toward the pagoda, and I'll go North, toward the mountain. If you find them, use the PHS and call—we'll find you."

Adrenaline pumped through Zack's veins as he tossed out a few plans. He remembered doing this so often as a SOLDIER, but he'd forgotten how natural it felt to him. His strategies weren't always the cleanest, but it would get the job done well enough, and that was all that they needed.

* * *

Vincent was a good partner, mostly because he didn't slow Zack down. No matter how much he adored Aeris, and how good of a fighter Barret was, they had never trained with Shinra. They had never experienced being tossed into the wilderness with two hours to find base; they had never dealt with Shinra's training sessions in the virtual reality rooms nor had they ever had to run ten miles in ten minutes. That was something that they had never experienced.

Vincent had.

They ran through the town after Zack explained Corneo's description—fat, blonde and going bald, gaudy jewelery, perverted twinkle in his eye. The description seemed enough to spur their search, and Zack was sure that he would probably see the guy first. Even if he didn't, Zack was sure he'd see Cloud.

They were running, so fast that the people around them were unable to catch more than a glimpse of Zack's sword and Vincent's cloak as they passed through the town. The day's light was dwindling, and in a few hours time the sun would be setting. Before then, though, they had to find Cloud. There wasn't another option in regards to the situation—find Cloud. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

The mako in both of them would have let them fun for hours upon hours without worry of tiring, but Zack felt himself skid to a grinding halt when someone very recognizable (and altogether unappealing at that particular moment) stepped out of the Turtle's Paradise, a lit cigarette dangling from his lips.

His red hair was in a tangled knot at the base of his skull, wispy bangs and spikes falling from his goggles. Aquamarine eyes coldly assessed Zack, his own lantern on the bloody ground.

"Reno," Zack breathed.

Vincent took several steps back, cocking his gun and leveling it at the Turk. Zack raised his hand and shook it around, swatting at an imaginary fly. "Don't do that."

"Oh, looky, looky. Not too shocked you're here. Figured you always used ta suck up my vacation time, along with some other things." He leered.

"Get over yourself," Zack snapped. He looked over to Vincent, who was critically glancing over Reno, his red eyes narrowing. The SOLDIER didn't understand what kind of animosity Vincent could have towards Reno, besides the little bitch being a Turk. That was enough for most first impressions to be squashed—Turks, in Zack's experience, took breath and made it ice. Zack's mouth opened, words ready to spew forth like molten lava, but he snapped his jaw into place, huffing through his nose.

"Hey, I used to own a gun jus' like that—a peacemaker. Shiny little thing, didn't pack that much of a punch though."

_Bam_.

"I know how to use it, that is the difference," Vincent automatically replied, cocking his gun back again, glancing at Reno, a blank look of concentration marring his features. There was a bullet hole in the place where Reno's foot had been a second before. "You, however, do not."

_Point for Vincent, _Zack thought. He did not voice this, but instead said, "We're busy, Reno. Fuck off. I don't have time to deal with your shit right now."

"You're looking for Corneo," Reno replied, scuffing his shoe against the shell from Vincent's peacemaker. "And so am I."

"Reason?" Vincent growled.

"Oh, we've been on his case for a while."

"But you just said you were on vacation," Zack stated.

"And...? Your point, pretty-boy?" Reno hocked his head back and spat yellow phlegm into the Wutaian dirt, before kicking the bullet casing across the way. It fell into a thin stream, little lilypads floating on the murky waters. He tossed his half-smoked cigarette in next. "If you just gotta know..." Reno leaned forward, ignoring the cocked gun that was now pointed between his eyes, his dry, parched lips almost ghosting over Zack's cheek, "Corneo fucked with us for the last time.

"Fucker took 'Lena. She's one of our noobs, but as Sec-in-Co, I ain't gunna call Tseng and get him all riled up."

_Click_.

"An' thank you for gettin' that piece of plastic out of my face. Wavin' it 'round ain't gunna get nuthin' done." Reno grappled with his collar, unfurling the top of his tie.

With a swish of his cloak, Vincent had his weapon once again hidden from sight. "We have established a mutual obstacle," he said slowly, drawing a breath between his teeth.

"Guess so. Who'd you lose?"

"Cloud and Yuffie," Zack answered.

Reno's face turned into a grimacing sneer. "Oh, fuckin' gre-eat. So, guessin' you figured out that the lil' brat's sittin' on a gold mine she ain't touchin', not to mention all that fuckin' control over everything and your mother?"

Zack's fist twitched. "Yeah, we just found that out. Would you like to divulge anything else, you insufferable fuck-wad? Maybe telling me what 201745 is? Oh, wait," Zack put his finger to his lips in a mock-thoughtful gesture, "I occasionally forget that you're below that paygrade...peon is what they call you, right? Or maybe Tseng's pretty little piece of ass. I wonder, how many people did you have to _fuck_ to get into the Turks? Ten, twenty? Maybe all of them at once, we know how much you would _love_ that—"

"And you mentioned Cloud... lover boy." Reno spat a second time. "I gotta wonder if you've tied him to the bed and fucked him raw yet —he is such an adorable little fuck-job. How cracked is he, Zack? And let's not forget Corneo's got the hots for him. I coulda' swore I saw a buncha pictures of him floatin' 'round Sector Six. Wonder how much Corneo'll pay him for some quality time."

"Don't talk like you know him," Zack snarled, his teeth gnashing together.

"Well, if he's fuckin' you, he can't be all that different than the dozens of chicks that'd line up out your door at night."

"You don't know what you're talking about, you selfish fuck." Zack felt his hands, begging to grab Reno's skull and bash his inconsiderate brains into the dirt. Nothing, he knew nothing. And he wasn't going to say anything to Cloud, because he didn't understand what he was talking about.

"This is not the time or place to act out your petty rivalry," Vincent interrupted.

Zack looked down in shame, allowing his arms to fall back from where they began to raise. Reno made Zack forget things, important things that weren't meant to be forgotten—like yelling about a relationship he wasn't supposed to be having in the middle of a crowded, bustling city, in front of monster-man. Sure, Vincent had caught them with their tongues down each other's throats, but bringing it up time and time again wasn't going to make that situation any less awkward.

"We must now find out where Corneo and his cohorts have brought the missing people, and retrieve them. Do not mix your petty rivalry with work."

Vincent's red eyes glowed over the rim of his high-collared cloak, and Zack couldn't think of any reply that would make sense compared to Vincent's words.

"Then he's coming with us?"

"Yes." And with that Vincent disappeared in a red blur, heading toward the mountain of Da Chao.

* * *

**What do you think? **

**Please Review!**


	76. Touching

Author Notes: I am, in advance, apologizing. Half of you are going to try murdering me in about... fifteen minutes. However, it is what it is. There's no turning back, no half-assing, and certainly no murdering the author.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Seventy Three: Touching

Zack was not the smartest man that had ever lived. He had major flaws that were outlined by his sincere and sometimes childlike nature. There were many issues with how he acted and reacted and how he sometimes let his emotions get the better of him. However, Zack usually had some kind of control over his hormones. He prided himself on his ability to keep his pants on and his lips sealed when the time called for it.

So when Vincent broke from the path, heading east and telling Zack and Reno to head in the other direction—covering more ground and helping find Cloud and the others more quickly—Zack should have remembered that Reno didn't have those kinds of qualms.

So, when Zack found a knife at his throat, lips at his mouth and a hand at his crotch, he was surprised for a minute before trying to push Reno off. Except for that knife at his throat (and damn, Reno poised for the perfect kill, even for a SOLDIER) he was doing just a _dandy_ job.

"What're you doing," Zack hissed as Reno breathed against his cheek. The hand grinding against his cock sent an involuntary shiver down his spine. Shinra had taught him to control his body along with his mind, but even with Cloud last night...he hadn't had sex in over five years. And Reno's hand, even though he was repulsed by his actions, still was surprisingly pleasurable. It was still Reno, the guy whom he had enjoyed enough to fuck at one point. His body knew that touch, understood that when Reno licked and sucked at his neck, getting hard was a good answer.

"What does it look like I'm doin', jackass?" His hand fumbled with Zack's belt, attempting to remove the leather with as little effort as possible. "I'm trying to get your pants off. I'd say for you ta come help, but I don't want those hands movin' around."

"Stop it! Get your fucking hands _off_ me—"

"What're you gunna do, Zack? It ain't like you don't want this. You've got more sexual tension than your virginal flower girl; she sure as fuck ain't getting any." Reno laughed and popped the belt out, tossing it to the dusty rocks below. Zack noticed that his back was grating on the mountain and little pieces were sticking into his skin. Every time Reno pushed his knife into Zack's neck, he pushed back even harder on the mountain. "Or maybe that pipsqueak that you've been droolin' over. How's that goin'? Obviously you ain't getting enough, and I've always been willing ta give you a little something."

_Snap_. The button on his pants were undone, and Reno's hands moved to the zipper, giving a short, fast tug. His pants were around his knees and Zack's stomach felt like it was going to drop out.

"This is fucked up even for you," Zack said between pants as Reno palmed him. "Get your fucking hands off me-_ehh._"

"This is what you've wanted for a while, ain't it?" Reno's red hair tickled him, and while the feeling was almost comforting, Zack wanted it gone. This feeling was not good, was not acceptable. Reno laughed and hot breath rank with liquor hit him. If there wasn't a wall behind his back the smell itself would have sent him tumbling over.

"No."

_Fuck this, I do not deal with little shits touching me without my fucking permission. Reno never gave a shit about personal boundaries and I shouldn't be surprised that this is his fucking way of effectively not getting over me._

"Don't act like I'm some kind of leper, Zack. We've done this a thousand times and with a thousand different backgrounds. What's the difference between fuckin' 'round here and fuckin' 'round in Midgar? You don't got any morals—"

"I've got Cloud," Zack said. "I don't need you, and I want you to get off me before I break your neck. Reno, I'm not playing with you anymore—move your fucking hands." Zack steeled his body against the redhead running his nail against the slit on his—_ohh, _that felt very, very nice. "D-don't." He straightened his back and sucked in his breath, closed his eyes and focused on Cloud.

Cloud. If Cloud could see him there would be pain anger, frustration, hatred. Cloud's hands wringing together, the hardening flesh on his palms torn by half-moon fingernails. No tears—just fury. Righteous fury that Zack would have thought not only deserving, but required. Those bright eyes turning on him, a viper or tonberry with a mean streak a thousand miles long. And there was nothing that Zack would ever say—that it was wrong or that he had any right to complain.

Zack leaned forward, feeling the knife press against his throat. The blade slashed at the soft flesh, the sting of pain barely recognizable and a flash of fear passed through Reno's eyes. He looked sharply around for a moment before pulling his knife away, dropping it to the dirt and grabbing Zack by the hair, yanking him down into a hard kiss.

_CloudCloudCloud, trust me._

Reno's tongue invaded his mouth; teeth clashing and spit mixing. Reno moaned, ground his lips into Zack's. Reno snaked his hand from Zack's cock up to his neck, pulling at his skin and hair. His palms were sweaty and smelled like earth, and the pads of his fingers met little resistance.

There was passion and pain. Maybe at one time, Zack could have appreciated it, but not anymore.

_Crack_.

Zack whipped his head away and smashed his skull into Reno's face. The redhead let out a scream of shock and flailed backward, his hand grabbing at his face as blood sprayed through his fingers. His green eyes were filled with something that Zack didn't want to admit to seeing, because Reno had no emotions. Reno was an assassin/killer/asshole/soulless bastard. Reno Sinclair couldn't feel pain, couldn't possibly feel remorse and heartache. And Reno could most certainly not have the look of a heartsick fool.

"I told you," Zack seethed wiping his mouth with his hand before spitting and kicking Reno's switchblade over the side of the mountain. "Don't ever touch me again, Reno." Zack buttoned up his pants and pulled the zipper up slowly to not catch himself in the teeth; he was shaking and the tiny nick on his throat was a constant, throbbing reminder of exactly what Reno was.

Reno grabbed at his skull, blood clumping in his hair with dirt and grime before slamming his hands into the ground, bits of Wutaian rock and dirt imprinting themselves into his skin like little wooden splinters. "What the fuck?" Reno yelled, his face turning into a crimson smear. "Who the fuck do you think you _are_? Have you forgotten _what_ you are? 'Bout what we've done an' what you've said? This don't make any sense, Zack! You're just bein' sumthin' you've never been and it ain't right." Reno rubbed his hand against the back of his neck, slicking down his hair like sweat.

"You don't know me," Zack replied harshly, his fingers twitching for the cold flash of steel. Reno's throat deserved a nick as well, only one from ear to ear instead. "You don't get it, Reno. You left me there—did you think about trying to help me? Fuck, even Cissnei tried! You just idled around. How long did you know that I was in Nibelheim? From the very beginning, I bet."

"I couldn'ta helped. You know that, Zack! Don't go bitchin' 'bout me leavin' you there when I didn't have any damn choice in the matter!"

Zack spat. "Liar! You didn't care about anything but having your replacement fuck because you aren't ready to admit that you find screwing men fun."

"You don't know what you're talkin' about. I ain't got any problem with who I am!"

"Yeah, that's why you pretend to enjoy those prostitutes and secretaries. Get over yourself, Reno. You've been playing at this game for so long I'm not even sure who you are anymore. If I knew you at all. I figured that you of all people would know what it felt like to be caged up like a wild animal, would try and stop it. But _no_, that's not what you do. You just take what you want and damn anyone else, damn anyone that isn't useful anymore."

Reno shook his head, scoffing. "You don't get it. You've never gotten it, Zack. I'm not gay. I get what I want when I want it —"

"Enjoying a nice cock in your ass and doing the same to someone else makes you gay, or at least bisexual. Don't you get that? You can't claim you're gay because you get what you want just because you want it."

"Yes, I can! Do you think I wanna bang every guy I see? Maybe you do, but I don't. It was _you_, dumbfuck."

"And your cousin," Zack shot back.

Reno's mouth dropped open, blood dripping into his mouth and between his teeth. "Low, Zack. That was so fuckin' low, even for you. When'd you find out 'bout him?"

"Couple weeks ago," Zack answered. "We met your uncle. Never mentioned him, did you? After all, you were screwing your kid cousin. That's not exactly a nice thing to talk about at a dinner table or while drinking. I shouldn't be surprised that you of all people are lacking enough morals to screw blood relatives for a little extra cash from Shinra; that's how you get your kicks, ain't it?"

"Don't talk 'about Jamie like that," Reno said. His eyes twitched. "You know nuthin' about him an' you don't know nuthin' 'bout me or that man who calls himself my uncle."

"What, was he abusive? Did he take away your teddy bear and make you sit in the corner because you'd been a bad little boy who grabbed his cousin's wee-wee under the dinner table?"

"None of that shit. He pretended like I didn't exist—ma was a whore an' left me with him because she wanted ta go chasing after some random guy. Said she didn't want me. But none of that matters—got over that long 'go. I got to deal with his shit, but Jamie didn't deserve what he did after. Jamie wanted ta follow in my footsteps—wanted to do something with his fucking life, just like I did. That bastard wouldn't even let him try!

"I told him 'bout me hackin' into the Shinra mainframe, getting them ta notice me. Just some rat on the street with a computer and a dream of doin' anything in my power not to end up like my uncle. An' you know what? I did it. I got in, I got their attention, and I was put to work within days. I was the fastest Turk to jump ranks since Valentine himself. And Jamie? Jamie didn't want to kill—he's like your pipsqueak that way. But he got into the program an' was workin' himself up to be a Turk Tech—just computers, no blood on his hands."

"You're not getting the _point, _Reno. You fucked a fifteen year old boy to get him to follow you; Paul said there were more. How many little kids did you screw to get them to follow you? I can't believe a damn thing that comes out of your mouth anymore—shouldn't have ever tried."

"I ain't fuckin' little kids!"

"Except Jamie?"

"Jamie was an exception. I woulda done anything ta make him happy. I would have fuckin' cut Shinra's head off if he wanted it. You don't get it, Zack—I didn't fuck him cuz' I wanted anything from him. I cared 'bout him."

Zack rolled his eyes. "You care about nothing but yourself, Reno."

"Bullshit! I fucking adored that boy and' would've done _anything_. Fuck, when they put him on that mission I tried so damn hard ta get him transfered—too dangerous. I tried everythin' and he just told me ta be quiet and let him prove himself. And what happened, Zack? _He fuckin' died in my arms_. So don't you go 'round saying that I don't get what love is. Don't say I didn't care 'bout him. And never, ever..." Reno took a deep breath and stared through Zack with tear-filled eyes (had Zack ever seen Reno actually cry...?) "Don't ever say I don't love you. I don't care if that's cheesy or not— 's true."

Zack bit his tongue.

_Love? That's what you call this fucked up thing we're sharing? Love's supposed to be tender and comforting and beautiful—not this fucked up mosaic of broken things taped together. Love, Reno? Really? You consider this pain love? If that's your love I'm not sure I want to feel it anymore. Anytime you talk to me you make me feel sick—it wasn't like this, once. I remember that much. _

"I ain't askin' for anything. I don't need your pity or your bullshit, and I don't need you tellin' me lies. I ain't over it, but I don't think I ever will. I can't do it anymore, Zack. Figured you needed ta know. It ain't no lyin' an' I know you got your chocobo-boy. Jus' don't pretend like I ain't got a heart. I'm a Turk—killin' people's my job. Never regretted that. Never will. I regret that you don't think I got enough in me to love you enough to say it." His eyes were bright and a bunch of tears slipped down his face. His eyes were puffy and there was blood splattered across his face. There was a ring around his eyes from the bruises forming, and his red hair fell in clumps out it its normal messy ponytail.

Zack had never seen Reno so beautiful.

"Reno."

Reno shook his head and shakily replied, "What? Gunna laugh or sumthin'? My heart bleedin' too red for ya?"

"Naw, Reno." Zack pushed himself down and ran his hand over Reno's bruising cheek. "I'm not gunna laugh."

Zack leaned forward and tasted alcohol, smoke and blood. There were tears and grime smearing across his face and his hands were running through Reno's knotty red hair. His lips were chapped, the same desert that Zack had explored a thousand times over. Their tongues were so gentle—they had never done this before. It was that little gift he never gave.

Zack let himself fall into the kiss, running his hands over Reno's face, wiping away his tears. They stayed at a slow pace, and Zack removed one of his hands to slip a materia from Reno's pocket. He brought it to Reno's face and let the light green tendrils wrap themselves between them, a beautiful spectacle that made both of them open their eyes to watch.

Zack allowed Reno to pull away first.

"S' that's it? That's the last time I get ta do that?"

"Yeah, Reno."

Reno coughed and rubbed his dirty arm against his face to hide the fact that he was crying.

"Goodbye."

* * *

Reno composed himself quickly, shrugging off Zack's hand to help him up off the ground.

"Don't need any help," he assured, spitting the last dregs of blood to the ground. His nose healed up nicely and the bruises under his eyes were almost completely gone. The alcohol in his system was flushed out and the redhead complained that he could feel the aching pains of getting headbutted by an ex-SOLDIER. "Damn head is harder than a fuckin' rock," he commented.

"Thanks for reminding me." Zack rubbed his hair back from his face and scratched at his mouth. There was blood and grime coating his tongue and his face, but other than feebly trying to wipe it off, there really wasn't much that he could do until he found some sort of water source. "We need to go find the others, like were were supposed to be doing."

He wouldn't admit that he was worried about Cloud, even though he really was. Cloud was strong and could handle himself better than almost anyone else in the entirety of Gaia. He didn't lose faith in Cloud's strength and ability just because they were in some form of relationship, and it wasn't just because Cloud still reminded him of the childlike innocence that he had toted around before Nibelheim. Cloud could handle himself—Zack could see that more now than ever before.

But that didn't mean that Cloud could fight while trying to protect Elena, and Yuffie... and... Akina?

"Shit!" Zack yelled as he took off on the unstable ground, grabbing Reno's wrist as they ran down the jagged edge of the mountain, back to the beaten and worn path. He couldn't believe his stupidity—how in Bahamut's name could he have forgotten that Akina had been with them? That Corneo wasn't as picky as Zack thought? Akina was still just a little girl—younger than Yuffie—and already dealt with enough pain and sexual degradation to last her until she died. Zack liked the girl; she was a lot like her sister without having the desire to steal anything that wasn't bolted down.

How could he forget that she was his responsibility? They had been together when that grenade went off...

"Akina! I forgot that she was with us and that Corneo got hold of her when they took Cloud and Yuffie," Zack explained as they ran. Reno was able to keep decent pace with him considering his Turk training, but he could hear the man breathing heavily.

"Sh—it."

"Yeah!" Zack yelled over the sound of their feet crashing into the ground, sending rocks scattering down the side of the mountain. This was the opposite way Vincent went—no one had yet to call on the PHS, so maybe they would get lucky and find Cloud and the others on their own. Minerva, what Zack would do to be able to apologize to all of them before handing Corneo back his disgusting, greasy fat ass on a platter of ex-SOLDIER power.

They ran for almost ten minutes before hearing the sounds of screams and gunfire.

Reno, who took in a few shuddering breaths followed Zack in a jog, though there was no way of telling how quickly Zack was going. Damn the world to Jenova, it didn't matter if his legs felt like undercooked meat. He could tell that one of those screams was Cloud's.

The shooting was coming from Vincent, who was locked in a battle against a deformed and grotesque beast. It reminded him of the monster bound in chains under the sewer system in the decimated Sector Seven, by the train graveyard. Zack could remember the taste of the water and fear as Cloud was skewered by Aps.

This one had wings and they had no materia.

"Fuck," Zack said as he pulled out his sword, glancing over to where Vincent was dodging claws and streams of fire and powerful gusts of wind. Cloud was untied, his blue eyes bright with a fury—a normal fury that made Zack reflexively calm. Cloud wasn't losing his marbles, not right now. He could fight with a cool, clear head—even without a weapon.

Yuffie, Akina, and Elena were fighting against their binding, Corneo looking on and laughing as he stroked his stomach with one hand. He was saying something, but rather than disdainfully listen to them man's blathering about his beautiful monster, Zack made a motion for Reno to toss him something—an old move from when they would go on missions together to bring inner-party relations up a notch. The other SOLDIERs didn't like the Administrative Research Department, and Zack was the only one willing to play by their rules. But now it finally was handy.

Zack caught the small materia bag in his hand before yelling a quick "Cloud!" and sending the bag flying through the air toward the blond, who caught it deftly and yanked out a lime green materia, poising for a spell. The air charged as a Lightning spell whizzed toward the flying beast, catching the left wing. The monster let out a painful grunt, half of the wing hanging on by a thin membrane of skin.

Vincent zoomed in, shooting his peacemaker off. His gun made a loud bang as he shot six times, emptying his chamber. All of the marks hit their places. Blood and sickly orange fluid ran from the monster's mouth and eyelids, one of his eyeballs completely decimated. The other was still intact, and it could see well enough that it blocked an incoming charge from Reno, who was flung back ten feet. He hit the mountainside with a smash, but quickly recovered and pulled himself up the side of the mountain.

The ex-SOLDIER launched forward toward the winged monster, slashing the Buster Sword across, narrowly evading the undamaged wing's gush. The sword clanked into hard scales before slowly inching in. It wasn't enough damage, and so Zack pulled back.

"Cloud—wings!" Vincent shouted over the sound of breaking rocks and screams.

The air charged again, but this time it was like all of the moisture in the world disappeared and the world went thin. Cloud's face was drawn into a frown, and with a quick snap of his fingers a stream of fire shot forward. It engulfed the monster's wings and the beast reeled backward.

Zack took off, his sword angled upward, catching the underbelly and pushing his sword into the softer flesh. Aps fell with a crushing blow to the head—but this one's neck stretched forward much longer than his reach. But they were prepared—the ex-SOLDIER yanked the sword out and yelled.

"NOW!"

He caught a flash of red as Reno jumped down, his electro-mag rod pushing into the eye socket that Vincent shot out. The fire had yet to extinguish and the Turk was close to being lit on fire, but he clung on and the smell of frying meat suddenly hit Zack's senses. Smoke billowed from the monster's nostrils and Reno pushed his mag-rod deeper, the flesh turning a putrid, rotting black. The dial was turned all the way up and the safety was off—and now its skin was bubbling and bursting.

The monster didn't have the ability to screech as it fell, its head smacking into the rocks, neck shattering like glass. Reno jumped off before it crashed, diving into a roll. His pant leg managed to catch fire, but it was quickly blotted out.

Reno said something as he stood up, brushing his suit, but it was covered by Corneo's voice.

"Rapps! Why'd you do that—I don't get why you killed him! Ju—just listen to me. It won't take long!"

"_Get me doooooown! Old dude felt me up! __**Save meeeeeeeeeeee!**_" Yuffie struggled against her binding, her entire body shaking the rocks around her. Akina was to her left while Elena was to her right—both were mutinously glaring at the girl. Akina snarled and spit a few flyaway strands of hair from her mouth.

"Shut up!" Elena shouted over the growling and piteous moans coming from Corneo (who was on his knees, staring down with eyes glazed over, slack-jawed.) "Just get me down. Now!"

Zack pushed a bit of hair from his face and swiped his blade in a half-arc. Blood splattered out into the dirt, a circle of protection before him. His muscles were wired and ready to further attack, the mako in his veins making his palms shake with a frenzy. Corneo was only a few feet away. His neck was bent to a perfect angle. One swoop, one cut; was it his right?

"Cloud," Zack said after breathing in deeply, pulling his sword over his head and letting the magnetic sheath catch.

The blond looked over, his face scrunched up, his blue eyes narrowed. He looked like a SOLDIER readying for the kill. "What, Zack?" There was a twitch near his mouth, in the left corner where his chin was dotted with a few light freckles. Rather than looking cute, his face made Zack want to twitch backward and slowly move away: the hunted now the hunter. "There better be something good about to come out of your mouth."

This Cloud was a strong, sinewy being. His muscles were made of molten steel and those eyes were pools of blue, blue mako. This Cloud was something Zack could see morphing between the fighting, the traveling, and their bodies together the night before in that mesh of confusion and pleasure. The black-haired man appreciated Cloud's growth, the changing between child and adult. Though this Cloud wasn't the same little kid that Zack watched go through basic training and SOLDIER tryouts, he had become a better person than he could have ever imagined. Cloud was the kind of guy that was going to be a real hero one day.

Corneo grabbed at his neck, choking. "No! Give me a second here—I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Say that again," Cloud said. Zack expected the kid—_no, man...—_to go green. However, his eyes did not change their coloring. "Say it again."

"I--" the man fumbled. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

Watching Cloud's face was like watching a bungee cord snap. His entire body spasmed and his nostrils flared. "Wrong answer." He moved like a Nibel Wolf pouncing on its prey. Time was of no consequence and Corneo was over the ledge, hanging on by the tips of his fingers. "Want to try again?"

"I'm innocent! Stop this crazy boy!"

"You tried to rape me. Remember, the day before Sector Seven collapsed? How you picked me, that awkward 'girl' with the purple dress? And then proceeded to try to fuck me?" Cloud nodded his head slowly, showing his teeth. "And how you were a cowardly, spineless, sick bastard that sent us into the train graveyard? Do you really not remember me, or were those fliers all for nothing?"

The pounce, the kill.

Zack watched, his eyes going wide as Cloud smashed the heel of his boot into Corneo's hand. The man's face went white and he screamed. His hand wildly snatched for rock, but met nothing but air. Comprehension dawned in his last seconds, as he plunged down the side of Da Chao: a sacrifice to the gods for his disgraceful life. Corneo's blood would seep through the stones and the dirt, and maybe give lifeblood to a planet that he had shamelessly stolen from.

And the ghost of his blood covered Cloud's hands now, too.

* * *

Zack wanted to leave Yuffie there, in her home city and make sure that everyday for the rest of her life she had to deal with the consequences of her actions. She had stolen from them, did something that nearly got Cloud, Akina, that rookie Turk and herself raped or murdered. She tried to scheme and sell to the highest bidder, not caring about her country or even her virtue.

But she wanted to save Akina, and that in itself was admirable.

They arrived back at the Butterfly house as the sun began to set on the mountain, throwing the entire city into a beautiful phantasmagoria. Zack could not stop looking at the sky, how the colors bled together into a masterpiece he could never have painted. Cloud and Akina were staring at one another, unable to convey many words between them. There glances seemed to be enough, for the most part. Cloud would occasionally say something, probably from his military days that he learned while in Wutai, but it was the murmur of a child whispering when alone in the dark—a wisp against his ear followed by the distinct hush of the coming night.

Yuffie was shuffling her foot against the ground as Vincent looked on, his arms folded in a casually imposing manner. Zack knew the game the ex-Turk was playing; Reno used to...

"I'm leavin'. The noob already took off to report back."

Zack looked behind him. Reno was nursing a bottle of some kind of alcohol, a cigarette tucked behind his left ear. Reno liked doing that with his cigarettes—always had. When Zack would wake up next to Reno, he'd have to bat the thing away because it would poke him in the face whenever he leaned in for a kiss.

No more kisses.

Zack looked to Cloud, whose face was drawn into a tight frown.

That was okay with him.

"Don't want ta spoil anymore o' my vacation time. I ain't made out of money—can't go out very often. I got another day before reportin' back ta Tseng. Lots to do, and so many wiretaps to listen through. Don't get why we have to do it—it isn't like we _don't_ know what you're doin'."

_Huh?_

"What're you on about?" Zack asked, but Reno batted his bottle forward. "I don't have to worry about it, right?" Zack said sarcastically.

"'Course not. I ain't never gunna tell anyway, so it's a lost cause. You know I love ta be difficult." The corner of Reno's mouth twisted down and his hand dropped. "Always will be."

Zack nodded shortly before looking away—Reno's face was burned into his brain, under his eyelids. There was no escaping that face. "Go have fun, we've got the rest of this taken care of."

Zack made the call to meet up in the Butterfly House, and it was a matter of minutes before the troop would be back. Animosity between the Turks and Avalanche was still too high—it made Zack uncomfortable to press the boundary anymore than need be. Barret would want to knock off Reno's skull, even now. So would Tifa and Aeris—both with excellent reasons, too. The last thing he needed when he tried to get Yuffie off the hook was for them to already be upset.

"Have fun with your brat," Reno said before rubbing the heel of his shoe against his pants. He looked around again before shrugging, the collar of his jacket falling partway down his shoulder.

"Wait," Zack interrupted, grabbing Reno's arm pulling up the sleeve. He took the moment to lean forward and whisper, "What's 201745?"

Reno pulled back and pulled his bottom lip into his mouth—lips locked tight, an uncomfortable position for Reno, he knew.

"Can't," Reno said shortly before mussing up his jacket and taking a step back, his boot crunching against the ceramic ceremonial tea set on the floor. "You know better. Ask your Turk—maybe he'll be willing to spill." A genuine smile reached Reno's eyes, even though his mouth didn't change. Flaring green, like emeralds in the sparkling light—Zack wanted to remember this Reno, the Reno that ate Wutaian food and drank cheap liquor with him on his crappy, flopping couch.

"Gotcha." Zack mussed his hair as he watched Reno leave the room, giving a half-wave on the way out. He also winked and blew a kiss at Akina, who looked over from her staring contest with Cloud to roll her eyes.

_Always the same,_ Zack thought with a grin.

More important matters were at hand, and with great exasperation, the ex-SOLDIER turned to Yuffie. "Do you have any idea what a pain in the ass you are?"

Yuffie scrunched up her face and immediately Vincent grabbed the girl by her collar—good instinct, because Zack could tell her feet were ready to take off. She squirmed and hollered before jutting out her lip and swishing some of her short hair in front of her eyes. "Lemme go."

"Not until you answer my questions. Vincent, don't let her down."

The ex-Turk grunted—Zack could only take it for affirmation.

She dangled there, with her feet kicking at Vincent's shins. She wibbled and her eyes watered up. "Lemme down, Vinnie! Please!"

Vincent cocked an eyebrow and hoisted her up further. "I don't care what you are doing, so much as the idiotic way that you are doing it." His eyes twinkled; he knew how to keep his face lax.

Zack licked the inside of his cheek, running the tip of his tongue over his teeth. He popped his jaw and crossed his legs, putting the tip of his boot into the floor. "Got anything you'd like to say? Anything at all?"

"I didn't do nuthin' wrong!" Yuffie shrieked as she kicked out again. "I did what was right!"

"Maybe," Zack said slowly. "Maybe you think what you were doing was justified, but not right. We don't need to go over your reasons, but maybe we can go over your betrayal."

"'Kina's all that matters to me. Don't go askin' for sumthin' you're never gunna get!"

"I don't want an apology."

Zack looked over to Cloud. The boy had his arms crossed and looked more and more like he was going to throttle Yuffie and string her back up on Da Chao. "I do."

"You're not getting' one!"

"Didn't expect one, to be honest."

"Good!" Yuffie huffed and blew air at Vincent.

There was a tense moment before Cloud took in a deep breath and sighed. "Yuffie, we can't trust you. I don't want you coming with us. You can stay here—deal with this on your own."

Vincent dropped Yuffie when she screeched.

"You can't do that! I can't stay here—he'll kill me when he finds out I'm back!" Yuffie scrambled around the ground, grabbing at the tea mats on the floor. Her face, ashen, trembled. "Oh, sweet baby chocobo, don't do that. It's not fair—my life is in danger here!" Her hands grabbed at Vincent's cloak. "Don't let them send me back, Vincent. You can't understand this."

"_No!_" Akina yelled, grabbing the side of her kimono and rushing forward. Zack saw her foot—it was longer and less feminine than Zack remembered from the other night. Akina wasn't like Yuffie, but she was her own brand of woman. A pissed off woman at the moment, because once she stepped up to Yuffie, one hand snatched the girl's hair by the roots and the other smached so hard against the girl's cheek Zack could all but smell the blood rushing to her face.

Then she turned on him.

"Wha—" Zack yelled. "Huh?"

The girl's hand closed and rather than the slap he expected, it was a fist against his nose. She had a punch that was stronger than Zack thought it could be. She was raised in a temple praying—did she learn how to make men hurt once she became a prostitute? Was it the norm for Wutaian whorehouses to teach their boys and girls how to break bones in SOLDIER's faces?

Zack blinked back the tears and fell to one knee, into some of the china Reno destroyed. He mumbled incorrigible spasms that were no language and every time he tried to breathe through his nose he felt more hot blood spray into his fist.

"She says you deserved that," Vincent said. Zack heard a rustle as the man pulled up the collar of his cloak to hide his mouth. Zack looked up to see that shine very much visible in the ex-Turk's eyes. "And that you both are imbeciles."

Cloud wearily glanced at Zack and then Akina, who was in the process of rolling up her sleeves. She was chattering along with a macabre smirk that made Zack reel back when she thrust out her finger in his direction. It moved quickly to Cloud and then to Yuffie.

"She says that you will take Yuffie with you until her father passes. It is a danger for Yuffie to be within the city limits when Godo's fury reigns supreme. He is... the..."

"The word you're looking for is new," Zack mumbled. "It means a Shinra tick."

Akina nodded. She placed a hand against her cheek in thought. "_You remember from your time here, do you?_"

"_Yes._"

"_Then you are a greater fool than you make others believe. May Da Chao save you from your stupidity before it is too late._" She paused and pursed her lips. Zack could see the smear of red in the cracks of her lips. "_And your __**young one**__... I am certain that your stupidity will be the end of you both._"

Zack didn't have time to respond as Vincent, with a swift, fluid move pulled out his peacemaker, aiming it between Akina's eyes. His pupils zoned in and out before the irises were overcome, and his pistol shook.

"_Say that again._"

"_You heard me the first time,_" Akina answered, turning her face away from Zack. She glanded at the mess on the floor and sighed, grabbing the corner of her obi. She wrapped her hand with it and got to her knees, gathering the pieces in her clothing. "_Messy boys... never know when to take care of themselves. Always leaving another to do the job that was set out for them. When people don't do their job, things become complicated._"

"Zack, grab Yuffie. We will depart now." Vincent lowered his gun to adjust to Akina's height.

Zack lifted his bloody hand from his face and rose back to his feet. Akina glanced up and shook her head. Her mouth moved to a word Zack knew well enough—stop.

"Excuse me." Cloud pulled Yuffie up from the floor. Her entire left cheek was already beginning to blacken around the edges, and she was visibly shaking. "Someone want to explain to me what is going on?"

Akina glanced at Vincent pointedly.

"No. This has nothing to do with you."

"It Gaia well does! Young one, young one, young one! Why does everyone continue to call me that—why are these things happening? I don't even understand myself half of the time." Cloud pushed Yuffie away when she began to pull her arm away from him, her eyes leaking. Cloud continued, "Whatever is going on—you know about it, Vincent! You and those beasts in your head!"

_Shit._

Yuffie's eyes grew wide. "Things...in...his...head?"

Vincent did nothing. Not a word, not a whisper, not even a breath.

He didn't need to breathe in front of Yuffie anymore.

Zack watched Cloud's mouth open wide before snapping shut. "Figure of speech, something you missed," Cloud answered swiftly.

"That's why you smell bad." Realization by the child—how long would it take for everyone in their group to know that Vincent was about as biologically human as the things he turned into? How long would it take for them to know that he _turned_ into things? Not that long if this kept up, Zack realized.

The black-haired man grabbed at his skull. "Shut up! All of you! This has nothing to do with Vincent or Cloud, or even me! What do you mean about Godo?"

Yuffie laughed hoarsely. "Oh, don't you know?" she replied, a hint of insanity curling into her words. "He's going to--" she raised a finger her her throat, making a slicing motion as she laughed, "--me when he realizes I came home. I'm the only one of his living children that can rightly inherit the throne and I've been bailing out on him for years. I stole the sacred Leviathan from him before taking off—why do you think I don't stay home!" Yuffie turned, her palms turned toward the sky. "I'm a prisoner here, too."

"You're a thief and a liar."

"And I'm walking toward my execution stand, Cloud. I stay here, I die. If Akina stays here, she dies. And she won't leave—she's too much of a fool to realize his chains only lock her mind here. She has been in control of her life for too long, but refuses to own up to the fact that we're not Rei!

"She'll never be safe in this world, and neither will I. Take me, leave me—it doesn't matter anymore! I wonder how long it took that bastard Hiro to rat us out."

Hiro, the old Avalanche member with the peppered hair... why would he tell Godo Yuffie was there? Zack voiced this and Yuffie tched.

"Don't you get it? Avalanche, Shinra, Wutai. There are things that connect them all. Spies and traitors and backstabbers—the lot of them. I didn't want to join you—I wanted to rob you blind and not die. After a while I came to tolerate you, but I don't care about Sephiroth or about Avalanche. I want my sister alive and my old man dead. I want Wutai to go back to the way it was when I was a kid. I want my sister to live in her temple and my brother's remains placed in the family crypt. I can't do that on my own—even princesses have their limits, especially when you show up home something retarded like this happens.

"All of 'em fighting because they want something. Hiro's wanted my old man out for a while—wants the family tree to die with me and he'll usurp Wutai for himself. He doesn't like Shinra too much—maybe we should just leave and let him take over. See if he can do it—damn the fact that he's be killed in a minute. I'm not dead because I'm not easy to catch." Yuffie's voice dropped. "It would take years to explain how convoluted this entire world is. Nothing is as it seems—even the most trustworthy people can be plotting against you."

Zack knew the ties between things that seemed so opposing. Rufus Shinra was once caught funneling money to Avalanche. Avalanche members running off to join Shinra. Wutaian leaders dealing with Shinra men...

"What're they after?" Zack asked. "What can make them all act completely and utterly against their beliefs? What could do it?"

Vincent took a step back, shaking his head back in forth. "You do not want to know, Zackary."

"And why not?"

Realization dawned upon him when he looked to Cloud, then to Akina.

"Vincent, what's 201745?"

Zack didn't want to look at Vincent, did not want to think about what Vincent was going to say, because he felt like he knew every word already. It had weighed down on him for months—ever since he woke up in that tank with Angeal's silhouette in the glass. The pain of the mako on his skin, in his lungs—that pain Zack could take.

Not this.

"Case 201745: The Tenacity Experiment."

* * *

**Hur... I wonder how many of you despise me right now. I told you I couldn't skip Wutai. It's too damn important. However, this chapter is long and (hopefully) awesome enough for you to excuse me and not totally despise me for taking so long. **


	77. Interlude Ten: Plume

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Interlude Ten: Plume

Zack wasn't in their apartment.

Angeal dropped his luggage, a dreary bag that was more empty than full, to the ground near the front door. It was clear that Zack had been there recently—a bag of chips and a coke were on the table next to a few strategy books. The television was playing a movie and the loveseat's pillows were mussed. The apartment looked like it had been lived in for the three weeks that Angeal had been away, but he just wasn't there.

Pulling out his phone and hitting the speed dial for Zack's phone, he listened momentarily before the theme song for the chocobo races played out through the entire room. He looked to the side table; Zack's phone was there. No Zack.

"Puppy, are you here?" Angeal questioned, not expecting an answer.

One didn't come. Angeal looked around the room, from the condensation clinging to the can of soda to Zack's books. Maybe he decided to take a break from his work for a little while, and went out to go get a coffee with some of his Second Class friends. The kid was quite popular—the pictures adorning their walls was clear of that. Pictures, their little silver frames tacked to the wall, Zack's arm wrapped around a friend's neck, patting them on the shoulders while dripping from head to toe in mud. There was also a picture a little smaller than the others on top of the mantle: a discreet snapshot of a training session,\ when Zack's eyes began to glow.

Angeal looked around for another moment, noticing the Junior Buster hanging out of the bedroom's doorway, a pair of dirty boots underneath it. A small hint of something ran through his stomach. Zack wouldn't leave without his sword or his boots—it was dangerous, not to mention foolish. And the Pup was no fool even if his cute and anxious personality stated otherwise. The kid was smarter than most gave him credit for.

And he wouldn't have left those if he were leaving.

"Zack? Are you here?" Angeal called again, the only reply being the howl of the storm outside hitting against the building. There was the pattering of rain and as Angeal closed off everything else, the sound of crying. "Zack," the man breathed, his head twisting to the side, body pushing forward into the bedroom where the door to the balcony was open, rain coating the carpeted floors turning them from their happy and cheerful crème to a dull yellow.

Zack was leaning against the railing with a soaked cigarette between his blue lips, arms wrapped around himself. There was a flashlight a few feet away, tethering on the edge. With a heavy gust it flew and went plummeting through the air down back to solid earth.

Zack didn't even look over to the side; he didn't even move. His entire face and body were soaked, but his eyes were crystal clear. Something was very, very wrong.

"Zack?" Angeal asked, reaching out to grab hold of Zack's shoulder. The boy pushed him away before he could give any form of comfort.

"No, don't touch me," the black-haired kid said, returning his hand back to his shoulder, rubbing for heat from the friction. "Go away."

Angeal took a step back, staring imploring back. "What happened? Something go wrong while I was gone?" Angeal hadn't heard any reports about Zack from the First Classes that he had watching the kid's back. The others thought of him as a little brother, a soon-to-be-First Class they teased but adored anyway. And from the state of the apartment, how the room hadn't even chilled, Angeal couldn't imagine that Zack had been in such a position for very long.

"Nah," he answered. He shivered and bit down into the filter of his cigarette. "Just... wanted to see the rain."

"Why're you crying, then?" Angeal asked. He took a small step forward into the rain, feeling the cold drops smack into his ears and against his skin. It was like a premature ice spell going off—not a pleasant feeling.

"I hate it here," Zack finally said after a moment of rubbing his shoulders. He pulled a hand away and grabbed the bitten, soggy cigarette and tossed it over the side of the balcony. "I came out here because I thought it would be beautiful, a nice experience, but it just fucking hurts."

Angeal closed his eyes and rubbed at his chin, feeling the five o'clock shadow bristle against his palm. "You're homesick?" Angeal asked. This wasn't about stepping out into the rain and hating the cold. This was something more.

Zack slumped forward into the railing, grabbing onto the metal and ringing his hands against it. He could hear the creaking of the metal, but Angeal said nothing. He remembered his first realization that Midgar was no Utopia. Midgar was a dirty, dingy cesspool that houses leeches and mosquitoes. It was the pool that everyone drowned in but never wanted to play in. Did Zack regret coming to Midgar; joining SOLDIER; befriending a killer?

"Don't know," Zack replied. "I just... I don't know. Every day is nothing anymore. I try and try and try, and it's like I'm walking up an escalator going down. Never going anywhere. Never moving forwards or back. Fuck, 'Geal. I saw that it was raining," the boy twisted his hands so hard that there was a pop and Angeal could see the outline of fingers indented in the metal, "and thought that maybe it'd be nice to step outside.

"It always rained in Gongaga. We were in the middle of a jungle. There was always rain, and it was always warm. This is cold and harsh and Angeal, I don't like living here anymore." Zack looked over his shoulder to Angeal, who moved closer throughout the boy's rant. Angeal was a breath away, his back sturdy and his arms ready. "I miss that," Zack finally said, his voice nearly breaking. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing something wrong—if I followed Reno without thinking. I thought that maybe... Maybe I could... Damn it. I should have listened to my Ma—she told me that Midgar wasn't a nice place. I don't even know what I'm doing. SOLDIER? I can't do it, I'm... weak."

It was almost comical how those words seemed to remove the last bit of strength from Zack. He fell and Angeal caught him. His fingers fumbled at Angeal's shirt, hoarse cries rising from his throat. His eyes leaked and his entire frame quivered in pain and anger (fear, so much fear that Angeal could barely stand it) but he could do nothing but hold on. What else was there to do but soften the blow?

"Scream. It'll make you feel—" Angeal did not get to finish his sentence because Zack did scream—he screamed and cried and his face was red, snot and tears dripping down his face. He yelled, swore to the gods and anything holy, cried for his mother and the childhood Zack would never get back.

And Angeal did nothing, because what was a man as broken as the kid in his arms supposed to do?

* * *

**Please Review! An actual chapter will be out in a few days time (or so.)**


	78. My Dearest Friend

Author Note: To answer a quick question: yes, there is a very specific and plot-driven point about why Cloud is never seen in Reverse chapters.

This chapter was also supposed to be "A Play and a Ride," however I thought that you lovely readers would prefer a full-length chapter devoted to the infamous date scene... and you know how I like romance.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII and its compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life--the end.

* * *

Chapter Seventy Four: My Dearest Friend

The Tenacity Experiment. Those three words rang in Zack's skull like a gong being hit with a battering ram. There was no softness, the gentle touch of a kiss before it killed.

"The Tenacity Experiment," Vincent said with deliberate slowness, "was one of Lucrecia Crescent's infamous projects. The idea behind it was to create an animated god—a human with the power no mortal could have." Vincent pulled up his cloak; it was the only sound in the silence. "It was the precursor to the project which created Sephiroth... I did not know her then, when she began the Tenacity Experiment—all I am aware is of what she spoke of with me. The experiment called the implantation of embryonic cells into female, then through various external circumstances, to impregnate her. I am not aware of what she was implanted with, though I would imagine a strain of Jenova cells."

"But to who?" Cloud shouted, grabbing at his skull.

Vincent looked over Zack's shoulder. "Lucrecia believed in the old story of Jenova and her eight sisters. Jenova, the daughter of Minerva. Jenova—a goddess brought to Gaia to create prosperity and hope. There are many interpretations of what happened, why they refer to Jenova as the Calamity from the Sky—Lucrecia believed one interpretation which stated that Jenova's insanity was caused by a rape and impregnation. I questioned her on it; the only answer she gave was that Loveless was abundantly clear on a child of Minerva bearing a humanoid child."

"I've read Loveless dozens of times—it never states that! Not even hinted upon!" Cloud yelled. "This woman was out of her mind."

"She said it was in the last act," Vincent replied caustically.

"There was no last act," Zack interrupted. "I remember as much—even Aeris said so."

"Not one that was found and placed on exhibit. Lucrecia said that several scrolls were found in Jenova's ice crystal during an archaeological dig close to Bone Village." Vincent touched the claw on his hand with the barrel of his gun. "She said these texts hinted upon a child born to Jenova. She decided to attempt to replicate the actions... and implanted the embryonic cells into her youngest sibling."

Zack sucked in a breath through his teeth—what was wrong with this woman?

"That's why you said I looked like her. You said I had the shape of her eyes—what was her sister's name?" Cloud's pushed his spikes out of his eyes, his hands shaking. "What was her name, Vincent?"

"Cloud, do not ask me that," Vincent asked, his tone one that Zack had never heard from the man before. "You will not appreciate the answer." He wiped his forehead and pulled off the knotted headband, throwing it to the ground at Akina's feet.

The two sisters were silent—Yuffie, unsure of what was going on; Akina well aware and happily ignorant of the language.

Cloud's eyes darkened; he took a tentative step forward. "You said I had her eyes and I asked you who you were talking about. You said that I had her eyes. Who is she, Vincent. Who?"

"I knew her as Kysen Crescent. I believe she took the name Strife after Crondrel burned."

Cloud choked and grabbed his throat. Zack could see Kysen in his eyes-- and Zack could see Cloud saying goodbye on the boat ride from Junon to Costa del Sol. He could also see the beautiful woman as a girl, her blue eyes pained as she suffered like no woman should suffer—the loss of herself and her family. "My mother?"

* * *

Zack rested his head on the glass, watching the waves lap against the thick window. There was a thrumming in his head that made the vein in his forehead press against the glass every time his heart beat. The noise was much like the lapping of the waves—a constant, a beautiful reminder that he could breathe. Despite not moving for several hours, his breath fogging the glass and warming his nose, there was no doubt that he was alive.

Cloud, on the other hand...

Zack sighed, feeling the tip of his nose touch the condensation. He lifted his face and slowly turned, his glance automatically going to Cloud.

He was sitting in a black leather chair, stiff from the tips of his hair down to his toes. He hadn't moved since they got onto the boat (headed for the beach near Corel, Riku said with his nose in the air. His hands shook when he gave Zack the papers, and refused to meet his eyes.) For a fleeting moment Zack thought of walking over and grabbing Cloud by the shoulders, bringing him into a hug that would crush the anger and the pain out. However, anytime he began to stand, his knees would wabble and the inches he gained would disappear in a wisp of nothingness.

If Cloud didn't occasionally blink, Zack would have thought him dead.

'Taking it hard' wasn't the word for what Cloud was feeling—it was so much more than that.

Cloud's very blood was turning against him in the face of a young, beautiful woman and the child she bore.

That was something Zack never expected he would hear. The fact that Cloud shared DNA with Sephiroth—the same man who proceeded to kill Kysen (unknowingly killing his own aunt,) caused Zack and Cloud to suffer for five years within Hojo's hands. Hojo—there were many rumors about that man, how he was Sephiroth's father. Zack didn't believe it, not when he was in SOLDIER and certainly not now. Sephiroth was nothing like Hojo, and how could a man put his child through such pain?

_Then again, how could a women use her baby sister as an experiment?_

After Vincent's brief and tumultuous response, Cloud stopped talking, stopped moving. He only moved when Zack placed his hand against his arm, pushing lightly in the hopes that it would rouse him from the dazed, confused world he was just thrown into. Normally, when it came to their touched, Cloud would either embrace it or firmly reject it. But he just stood there like a rag-doll, pushed to the side and busted, his eyes falling off, his stitching undone.

When he whispered that they had to go, to leave Wutai before Yuffie's father caught up, Cloud's feet stayed firmly in place. It took Zack holding his arm, all but pulling him along, to get out and meet the boat before it left the nearby harbor.

And then they sat.

Zack knew what he needed was time, however the length of time he was entirely unsure of. What was he supposed to do anyway? There wasn't any guide to what he should do—thus the only choice was to follow what his brain told him to do. Despite the fact that his own head was filled with fluff and he wandered from thought too thought, not always looking deep into the opaque waters, Zack spent hours thinking of everything. Pain, isolation, despair. Cloud's heart was a muddled state of desperation, and he was not entire sure if it could be fixed at that very moment.

So he didn't push.

He stood up, mustering the last dregs of courage he had in his bones to move forward. His shoes seemed to be filled with lead, and more than once he almost turned back to sit down and continue staring out into the watery abyss.

"We'll be there soon, Cloud," Zack said as he leaned down, running his thumb over Cloud's cheek. It was safe for him at the moment; the other members were upstairs in their respective rooms and they were here. It would only take two nights to get across the ocean, back to Corel, but those two nights were precious. It was time Cloud needed to rest—he needed to regain his bearings.

Damn, Zack needed to regain his bearings.

"Are you hungry? I cant go get you something, if you'd like." Zack glanced down to the watery blue carpet, Cloud's boots digging into an old stain. "Or I tuck you in? Maybe put some cartoons on—I think they'd have something like that on the television, don't you think? Yeah, I'm sure they'd have that."

"I don't want cartoons."

Cloud's voice was hoarse, and he looked up.

The tears began.

"Z...Zack," Cloud choked, his nails digging into the black leather. His eyes scrunched together and his lower lip quivered. His teeth were clenched; Zack could hear the painful grinding. He took a deep breath from his nose, his face fighting against the present emotions, and he spat, "I'm not some kid that you can placate with cartoons! I'm not a kid anymore—" Cloud's mouth twisted down into a frown, and he refused to meet Zack's eyes. "I'm not some girl, Zack. I don't need to be fucking coddled!" Cloud yanked his hands from the leather and planted them firmly on Zack's shoulders.

Zack toppled backward, his head hitting the old carpet with a thunk—surprise evident on his face.

"You hear that, Zack? I'm not some fucking child, and I'm no girl! Treat me like a man—you don't... you don't..." Cloud shakily stood and pointed his finger at Zack's form laying on the ground, unsure of whether to move. "You don't... Zack..."

Cloud's knees gave and he fell to the floor before Zack's form. He grabbed at Zack's knees, squabbling with dulled nails and punching while hiccuping and screaming out obscenities and Zack's name.

Pushing himself up with his elbows, Zack looked at Cloud's face, at the puffy eyes and blotchy skin, and Zack remembered another face, almost as beautiful as Cloud's in the same angry and pained expression...

His own.

"Cloud," Zack said. He waited until the boy looked down at him before reaching his hand forward. "Scream, Cloud. Just scream."

Cloud snatched Zack's hand and pulled him up into the sitting position before burying his face into Zack's shoulder, biting and screaming. He beat one fist into the floor while the other refused to let go of Zack's hand. There was little feeling left in that hand, but with the other Zack spread his finger through Cloud's hair, feeling the thin strands fall between his fingertips.

Ignorant of physical pain the two sat there until the room became dark and Cloud's screaming dulled to choking sobs.

Regretfully, Zack removed his hand from Cloud's hair, wrapping his arm around Cloud's waist and pulling his backward. Cloud landed on his chest with a small thump, and Zack turned both of them on their sides, his arm slung around Cloud's waist. He kissed Cloud's hair before resting his chin on the soft spikes.

"You'll never be a kid to me, Cloud. Never a girl, either. Cloud," Zack wished he could have seen Cloud's eyes, but breathing his words into Cloud's ears allowed him to hide his tears. "Cloud, I don't love your body, I don't love your face... I love your soul, Cloud. This, right here," he moved has hand to touch between Cloud's ribs, pressing against the place he could feel Cloud's heart. "You're beautiful outside, sure, but this is what makes me love you. I know you're not a child, and I know you're not a girl. I just want to show that I love you more than life itself, and I don't know any other way to do that than to make you safe. I never want to see you in pain, Cloud. I would kill Sephiroth myself if it meant that you couldn't feel this agony...

"But I know that locking you up, not allowing your to do this would destroy you. I never want to hinder you, Cloud. I understand why, and I understand what I'm supposed to do. You're so much stronger than I am." Zack kissed Cloud's head, nuzzling against it. He could feel Cloud calming, how his body seemed to finally give into the blissful sleep he needed—the sleep that could only come when one exhausted themselves to the point of unconsciousness. "Just let me love you, Cloud. I don't want anything in return—just be yourself. Please never cry again, I'll never ask anything else of you."

Cloud took the opportunity to wrap both his hands around Zack's and pull it up to kiss his palm. There was still the occasional sniffle and Cloud began to cough from the stress he put on his throat.

Cloud kissed his hands and murmured, "I promise... I love you."

"I love you too, Cloud."

Zack allowed Cloud to fall asleep on his chest, safe from the worry and pains of life, before moving them into one of the beds. He chastely removed Cloud's clothes, placing them across a rickety chair in the corner of the room, and found the biggest t shirt he owned for Cloud to wear. His face flushed when he whisked his hand across Cloud's abdomen when pulling the shirt down, but quickly curbed his thought before laying next to the ki—Cloud.

A man.

"Cloud," Zack whispered, knowing he wouldn't be heard. "Cloud, thank you."

* * *

The ride in fact took half a day longer than expected thanks to an early typhoon season readying to attack the coast of Wutai. The weather dampened and the seas grew into a dark, murky gray. Zack spent most of his time below deck with Cloud, who was hit with a terrible bout of sea sickness the morning after their conversation.

Zack woke that morning with Cloud looking down at his with blue eyes. There was a residual puffiness around his eyes, but he only looked tired.

They spoke that morning with little, unimportant conversations that others would have thought pointless, but to Zack they were cherished moments. They sat on the mussed bed, Zack's leg hanging half-off, with Cloud sitting with his feet folded underneath him.

Cloud's favorite color was a dark, forest green. When he was eight he tried to tame a goat that they owned, but it kicked him in the stomach and broke three of his ribs. Cloud bought the same shampoo now that he did when he was a child—Shinra forced him to use their special brand, something that smelled like a sewer and made his scalp itchy, when he was in the army.

He hadn't watched a film until he was eleven, when Kysen bought their first television—an old technicolor thing that weighed a ton. Cloud told him with a laugh, his eyes sparkling dimly in the morning light, that he dragged the television through two feet of snow from the post office. It took months for him to save up the money, but it was during the Second War and Cloud would have paid anything to see footage of his idol.

Cloud idolized Sephiroth throughout his childhood—the kind of person he wanted to become. A SOLDIER, the most impressive man in the entire world in his eyes. Kysen wasn't fond of Shinra, didn't want Cloud to have any part of it, but he insisted.

"She always knew I was going to leave... I think that was the worst part. She just wanted me to be happy, to get out of Nibelheim. She loved it there—said it was so different from her own home back in the city. She'd tell me these stories," Cloud's voice sped up in a rush, his words slurring together, "about this one time where her sisters sneaked out one night to watch Loveless at midnight. They paid her to keep quiet with candy, and she said by the end of a month she had more candy under her bed than a candystore." He smiled, and Zack smiled, too.

Cloud's face dropped, and he pulled at his collar. "She, uh," he said tentatively. "She said that Sephiroth was... she liked him. I think she knew, because family is supposed to recognize family. It would explain why she was so flustered when she met him. I just thought she thought he was handsome—Gaia, everyone thought he was handsome."

"Did you think he was handsome?" Zack questioned.

Cloud briefly stared at the ceiling. "Yeah," he mumbled. "But now that I know... ugh. I don't think I can look at my memories of him the same way. I feel sick to my stomach thinking about it."

"Did you have a crush on him?"

The blonde shrugged. "I don't really know. I idolized him. I wanted to be just like him. If I knew what I know now, maybe I would have done something different. Maybe, just maybe, if he knew about mom and I... he could have had a family."

A family... that's all Sephiroth ever wanted. If they had been able to give him that, Nibelheim wouldn't have burned.

"Don't blame yourself," Zack responded, leaning up a few inches to plant a kiss on Cloud's hand. "What's done is done—we'll just keep going. No matter what, I'll be here. We'll fix everything together. Okay?"

Cloud nodded.

* * *

They reached North Corel near nightfall. The lights advertising the tramway were in full bloom while the rest of the town stood by their lit trashcans. The smell of coal and mako fused together into something awful, and Zack was thankful he only had to deal with the smell until they reached the tram.

Zack paid for their tickets up with little notice to the price. He was going to go broke, so he may as well not think of the particulars. Numbers weren't exactly going to make him the happiest person on earth.

"We've got to meet with Dyne," Barret stated. "He's up here, sumwhere. Avalanche's on his side, an' I'm sure whatever he's gunna tell us got to be important. He wouldn't go joinin' Avalanche for the shits and giggles." They followed after the man, walking past a dozen happy couples and families leaving the park after a fun day of playing, oblivious to the fact that a madman was attempting to wage war against them all. Zack could have laughed if not for the fact that it wasn't their fault.

"Where would he be, though?" Tifa asked, pulling her PHS from her pocket. "Should we split into groups and look for him?" She twisted at the new edition to her phone—a small trinket phonestrap. "We can call each other—whoever finds him calls the others."

Cid crossed his arms and pulled a smoke from behind his ear, ignoring the pointed looks from ruffled parents and workers. "I ain't got no fuckin' clue who this guy is. I ain't gunna run 'round a themepark lookin' for some guy.I don't even know what he looks like."

Tifa slipped her phone back into her pocket. "Well, excuse me for putting in some thoughts—you probably can't wrap your mind around that."

Cid hmphed and scratched his skull with the butt of his cigarette. "Whatever, lady."

Aeris snapped her fingers. "None of that," she warned. Zack was glad to see that Aeris seemed to look better than she did the past few days. The fatigue from her face the day she passed out in Rocket Town was gone, replaced with a sparkle that hadn't been seen since Zack spent his entire day off making a bunch of flower carts.

"What's your suggestion, Aeris?" Tifa asked, pulling at the edge of her skirt.

"That we follow your suggestion, actually!" Aeris's face broke into a grin, and she grabbed Tifa's hand, pulling it away from her skirt. "Silly, it was a good idea. Just ignore Mister Smokesalot over there. We'll split into groups—put Cid with Barret. Cait can go with Yuffie; Vincent can go with Red; and Cloud can go with—"

"He can go with me," Tifa said quickly, diverting her eyes to Cloud, who looked around cautiously before nodding. "Okay, that's settled."

Aeris gave Tifa a half smile, half frown before glancing at Zack, who only raised an eyebrow. "And I'll go with Zack. We'll meet up in about a half an hour here if no one finds him. Okay?" She gave another smile and placed her hands on her hips when no one responded and tsked.

"Yes, Ms. Aeris," Zack finally said, and the others (half in laughter, the other half in exasperation) followed.

They split up, Zack and Aeris taking off into the Speed Arena.

"Poor Tifa," Aeris said once they stepped off the cart, which whirled off behind them in a mesh of gold and pinks. "I think you need to tell her. She's the only person who doesn't know yet, Zack..." Her green eyes met Zack's, and he could see the pain his deceitfulness was causing Aeris, despite the ever-present fact that she wasn't the one being deceived.

"That's not exactly true," Zack said, skating around the question. He moved his head in the direction of the entrance. "Let's go stand over here."

Aeris nodded, but continued on her subject. "Perhaps the men aren't aware, but Red knows, and so does Yuffie which in part means that Cait also knows. I also think that Vincent is probably aware—he picks up on things that other people can't even begin to fathom. It's really impressive, actually. Just the other day he spotted a bird in Wutai that was supposed to have gone extinct nearly a hundred years ago." Aeris's cheeks flushed, and she excitedly clapped her hands together. "He's really perceptive, and I think that he—"

Zack smiled. "Oh, is this a little crush in the making, Miss. Gainsborough?"

The woman clamped her lips together, her cheeks turning a delicate red. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't, Aeris. It's not like I've known you since you were fifteen. You got that same look when I took you to that movie premiere I got us tickets for. You sat next to that guy—the really famous one. He played some tragic hero or something..."

"His name was Sebastian Bell and he played the main character from Loveless! I got to sit next to him for three hours. I was fifteen, Zack! Don't go holding that against me." Aeris looked up at the bright white lights before teetering on her feet. "Alright," she admitted, "Vincent is quite attractive, but he's far too..."

"Angsty?" Zack supplied, receiving a smack and a stern look from Aeris.

"I was going to say mysterious. But, there's just something about him that I can't quite place... It's like he's not completely there. I can feel it; it's dark, and I'm not entirely sure I want to know what it is. He's never been anything but polite and proper with me, so I don't think he has some kind of ulterior motive..."

_Oh, you have __**no**__ idea, Aeris_, Zack thought.

"I do like him, Zack." Aeris's mouth began to frown. "It's sad, because I already know that it's never going to happen. However," Aeris flipped a fallen curl out of her eyes with haste, "we've got a job to do. No thinking about my relationships, or lack of. But, in all honesty, you really _should_ tell Tifa. She's sweet and she means no harm. I know for a fact that she wouldn't want to hurt Cloud or make you two feel guilty. It may as well come out now then wait until she sees something inappropriate."

Zack tapped her nose. "'Inappropriate?' That's what you think of me, darlin'? I'll let you know that the furthest I've gone is—" Zack snapped his mouth shut. Despite the details of the conversation, he wasn't going to talk to Aeris about his love life... that he left her for. "Not that far," he ended, lamely.

The woman smiled before pulling on Zack's uniform. "Come on, Zack... let's go. We'll check the rest of this place, and then go up to Battle."

They walked the path, the ground sticky with candy and soda, for ten minutes, glancing at every face that went by. Many were teenage boys, their girlfriends dragging along behind them, faces turned down and shaking.

"You wanna go on that?" Zack asked Aeris, who politely declined, shaking her hands before her.

"No. I don't understand how your boys can possibly go on that! It _spins you upside down!_" Aeris covered her laugh with the palm of her hand, but Zack could still see the smile break through. Aeris's mouth was upturned in a wide smile, one that showed her white teeth and glimmering eyes.

There were only a few other times Zack could remember Aeris being so happy.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" a man gruffly responded, pushing past Zack. His face was barely recognizable in the light, and for a moment Zack thought that he somehow _knew _the face of the man looking at him.

The man, the shadow as his backdrop, pushed something into Zack's pocket before continuing his stroll by. What was more bizarre was that he tipped an imaginary hat to Aeris, whose eyes scrunched as she attempted to look at his face.

"Who are you?" Aeris and Zack voiced simultaneously, but they didn't receive a voiced response.

Zack took a look back and saw the man's profile. He could have sworn he knew that face—even if it was covered by a SOLDIER Second Class helmet. Zack didn't have to wear one for long; Shinra didn't care as long as he did his work. But _he_ thought it was so cool... he wore it almost every day. Though Zack knew his face from the times spent in the barracks and then once they were closer to with one another, in the bars topside and below, he would always remember that helmet.

"Kunsel?"

Kunsel, Zack was absolutely sure of it now, winked one of his mako brown eyes and made a small, vague gesture that anyone else would have taken as unimportant. The ex-SOLDIER, however, felt his eyes tear up.

_I've got your back, Zack. _

Zack's hand spasmed and he quickly reached into his pocket to grab whatever was stuffed inside by his old friend. He was probably still working for Shinra—he could have gotten himself killed if they found out he was giving information to the enemy. When the pair reached Midgar, Zack threw his old cell phone into a murky pond. It was better that his old friends and those who he knew from his SOLDIER days didn't have a way of contacting him, or in the worst case scenario, track him down using the cell phone.

It was a piece of paper, crumpled and worn with only a few words—enough to get the picture across quite vividly, Zack thought.

_They have a spy. Get out, now. _

* * *

"We're terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but the tram is closed. It seems it was damaged with the last load." The girl didn't seem to care all that much for the broken tramway, and Zack could feel his hair standing on end.

After Kunsel left, Zack took off with Aeris, calling the groups on their way to the main court, to get out of the Gold Saucer. Not even Barret mentioned that they failed to find Dyne—it seemed, according to the gruff man, that Dyne was out of town for the moment. Zack wasn't exactly sure what it meant, and why the owner of the Gold Saucer knew about it, but in the grand scheme of things it meant very little.

"He gave me this, though... I ain't got no clue what it is. Said Dyne gave it ta' him for safekeepin', that a lady with me knew what it was." Barret pulled the small bauble from his pocket, holding it with idle curiosity and confusion. "Figured it'd be sumthin' that Aeris would 'get'."

Aeris held out her hands, accepting the the small object. It was half the size of her palm and round, smooth like the surface of a pool of water. There was something inside that shined, a mosaic of blues and greens tinged with a hint of gold. Aeris closed her eyes, eyelashes fluttering shut, and Zack could hear a whimsical tone, a sweet song that reminded him of innocence and purity—everything Aeris was.

"It's a key," Aeris murmured, holding the trinket—a key, to what Zack wasn't entirely sure—to her chest. "It's a key to a temple; I can see it before my eyes... it's close, yet so terribly far away. There's a man," Aeris's eyelids stayed firmly shut, but her eyeballs restlessly moved around, as if taking in an image of something, trying to memorize every twisting pathway and jagged edge. "I see him there, but it's misty. I think I know him... maybe."

Aeris opened her eyes, startled to see the world around her, Zack could tell. "We have to go there, now. Before it's too late."

But, there was a tiny snag in the plan—a busted tramway and a spy.

Zack and Aeris didn't mention the spy; it was difficult for them to accept. Kunsel was an anomaly that Zack didn't want to explain, especially if there was someone in the group who was less faithful than the rest.

Zack didn't want to point fingers, his mother having taught him always to take the best of people. But, the man trusted Kunsel with his life and had yet to be disappointed. The man was loyal to his comrades, not the company they worked for, which perplexed Zack for the longest time.

He wasn't confused anymore. In fact, he understood better than almost anyone else, because he remembered a time when he risked everything to save his friend... and would have happily died if it meant protecting him.

"Ma'am, look," Zack began, but the lady at the booth icily glared and snapped, "The Gold Saucer is sorry for the inconvenience, but there is nothing we can do until morning. You and your party must wait until an engineer checks the Tramway. There is nothing that can be done, sir. Please step to the side."

With that the woman crossed her arms, put her nose in the air and walked off, passing by several dejected-looking families as well as the entire group of Avalanche stood, angry.

Cait was the first to speak, his electronic voice a mix between an excited yelp and a meow. He was perched on top of Yuffie's head, his crown glowing brightly. "I have some friends working at the Ghost Hotel... I'm sure I can snag a few rooms, for old time's sake. I guess you should be happy I know so many people. Lassie, let me go!" Cait planted both paws firmly on Yuffie's cheeks and hoisted itself down to Mog, who began to snap its feet together in excitement.

"Are you sure that wouldn't be any trouble?" Tifa asked. "There are a lot of people stuck here tonight."

Cait took an extravagant bow, his crown nearly falling off. He pushed it back up between his ears with the hand holding a megaphone, and nodded. "Of course, Lassie! Have a little faith in your good friend Cait! I know this place like the back of my hand—well, it's really a paw, isn't it? I know it like the back of my paw!" Cait tapped his foot on Mog's head and jumped almost two feet in the air. "I'll be back in two shakes!" And with that the mechanical cat and its mog were off, jumping into a cart with quickness Zack never saw from the thing.

* * *

**What do you think? Happy New Year, and may this decade be better than the last!**

**  
Please Review!**


	79. A Play and a Ride

Author Note: I am not dead. I am not leaving. This story is not finished until the epilogue to the sequel is up. So, you guys are stuck with me for quite a time yet! Anyway, here is the infamous date scene--done with my own twists, of course. And no one jump on me too much--I have had a bad bout of illness... then I fell down a flight of stairs and ended up spraining my neck. I still worked hard on this chapter despite the 'Sai nearly dying' deal.

(And pardon the shameless self-pimping) but if any of you are interesting, I've got a nifty link on my profile where I'm selling lolita purses I make by hand. It's all to funding my trip to A-Kon this year, where a group of friends and I plan on showing off our recent cosplay: the Japanese rock band 'Versailles Philharmonic Quintet'. I'm supposed to go as Hizaki (I get to make almost all the costumes. GUH!) but I can't until I make fundage. Thus, pimping out purses. Haha. Yeah, enough of that! Onto the show!

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Seventy Five: A Play and a Ride

Once settled in their rooms, Zack called their little rag-tag team together. They assembled in the foyer of the hotel, in a corner where they were not only comfortably away from those who came by, but also close enough that it did not seem they were hiding away from prying eyes. Zack would have preferred doing it in one of the hotel rooms, but even in the largest room someone was uncomfortable. Mostly the complaining came from Yuffie, who said that even standing on complete opposite sides of the room she could still smell death no Vincent.

It didn't seem like she was willing to drop the subject anytime soon, so rather than deal with her letting the cat out of the bag, they were downstairs.

Zack started into the faux fireplace, watching as little holographic hands squabbled in the embers. Roomy though it was, Zack could feel the chair he was in try to engulf him, and wondered whether or not it was a parlor trick done by the hotel to garnish a few more scares. It wouldn't surprise him—from the haunting elevator music that enveloped the entire room like a straitjacket to the dropping animetronic hosts, the entirety of Ghost Hotel made Zack think of a bad gimmick that outlived its purpose.

No matter. Crossing his leg and tapping one hand against the arm of the chair, Zack looked at his friends. Red was the first to speak.

"I sense something coming," he said, his tail straight and tense as an arrow ready to be shot. "There is something happening which brings sorrow and hope, and I cannot understand it. The Planet does not speak to me as it speaks to Aeris; I can only understand what Grandpa has taught me. Mazes of riddles and complications mire my hypothesis...however," Red stopped. "However... it is not good, that much I am aware. There is something coming. Aeris, do you feel it, too?"

Aeris turned her face away, but before she did so Zack could see the stress in her eyes and could hear the hitch in her breathing. "I..." she began, before quickly being interrupted by Barret.

"Does this have sumthin' ta do with the key?" Barret asked in a hushed, groveled whisper. "The one that guy gave me; the one you said lead to some temple nearby. I mean, it makes sense, don't it? I don't get why Dyne had it, but he really wanted ya ta get it. I gots enough faith to know he wouldn't be foolin' 'round with stupid shit like a key if it didn't go an' unlock a place real important."

"I know," Aeris responded. "It's simply that..." Zack knew what she was thinking about; there was a traitor in their midst. Words could be turned into a steel blade against their throats. However, if they had a traitor, who knew what they already knew? It wasn't like they ever needed to watch their mouths around people who were their friends. Despite the fact that Zack knew Kunsel would never lie to him, they had put their lives in each other's hands far too often to not tell the truth, Zack wanted to have faith in every member of their group.

But... Zack had a few guesses.

"We have to take things slowly." Zack glanced over to the corner of the room where Vincent stood in the shadows, his bright red eyes glowing in the dim light. "We must not by hasty in our decision to move forward. To do so would be irrational and potentially lead to disaster."

"That really doesn't answer a whole lot."

Of course it wouldn't to Cid Highwind, who wouldn't believe his greasy head was on fire until it blew up.

"Want to elaborate?" Tifa spat, crossing her hands over her chest. Zack noticed recently that this was something she did quite often when talking to Cid. The man was a bit of a misogynistic pig—well, not a little, in all honest. The words almost defined the guy—and it wasn't just women. It was anyone who he thought was a lesser being than he was. There was something good about the guy, but it really was hidden very, _very_, far down.

Then again, he was on the top of Zack's traitor list.

Zack knew that he should have put some doubt to Vincent, considering once a man was a Turk, he was always a Turk. To claim not to be one was like saying that a chocobo wasn't a chocobo just because it didn't have any feathers. But Zack knew that it was about as likely as he and Cloud joining forces with Shinra and giving away free information for the shits and giggles. What they were submitted to was too much to be forgiven, no matter the price. In that same breath, Aeris, Tifa, and Red were out, as well.

In all honesty, the only people he truly could see as back-stabbers would be Cid, Yuffie, and maybe Cait.

But Zack had a little more pinned on Cid being their defector. There was something about the man that just made Zack want to scream that he was their traitor, telling Shinra all about every single one of their movements. Gaia, if they let him go up in space Cid would get on his knees and give the former President's dead corpse oral.

Or maybe he was just being harsh on the guy because of how he treated the people Zack cared about. No matter how much Tifa could bother him (and it was not what either of them wanted, but Tifa was vying for Cloud's heart and Zack had it in his palm, beating against the callouses on his fingertips) and no matter how often he could see Tifa's glance stray toward Cloud, Cid was too harsh on her. The guy just rubbed Zack in the wrong way—if it wasn't Cid, Zack would eat his shoe.

"It doesn't matter if something's coming right now because we can't do jack-shit about it. If you ain't noticed yet, we're kinda stuck in a fuckin' hotel." He waved his hands around, a cigarette twirling expertly between his fingers. "Who knows how long we're gunna be stuck in this place. And anyway, why should I trust some chick with a brain condition? Passing out on my couch, talking like she's crazy—you make no damn sense."

"It's not like you have to stay here!" Tifa shouted back, her gloved fists tightening. Zack heard the leather of her glove scrunch, squealing loudly in the otherwise quiet room. "Why do you bother—it's not like you've got anything keeping you here. Just go home—say we kidnapped you or something."

"Get offa my back! I ain't gotta tell you a damn thing 'bout anything." Cid yelled, causing outrage from Avalanche.

"Don't you yell at her!"

"Stop this!"

"You're mean!"

"_Silence._"

Vincent moved like wind before a hurricane, soft but with the promise of fierce retribution. There was Chaos in his voice, which sent a chill down his spine. It was the same response he would have with someone sliding an ice cube down his back. Vincent scared the ever-loving shit out of him.

"We will follow Miss Gainsborough's precognitions, because there is logical sense in doing so. Simply because you are not aware does not mean that others are not in full awareness of the necessity of believing in her. If you would prefer to leave, do so now. It would be preferable to see the back of you than for you to question the behavior of our accomplices, which we all are. We have committed enough treason to be hanged before President Shinra."

"I don't think they hang you anymore," Yuffie said under her breath.

"No matter," he replied demurely. "You understand the point which I have made. Mister Highwind, at this moment you hold as much use as a monster in a china shop."

Zack bit his tongue to prevent himself from laughing.

Cid's eyes grew wide and then summoned a glare that could curdle milk and make puppies jump from the the top of Shinra Headquarters. His nose flared and Zack heard the audible crunch of the man's teeth grinding together. "I don't get any of you—why're you following this little girl around? You're not tryin' to save the world; let's get that straight. You guys just want to give Shinra shit. I'm all for that—those fuckers have taken everything I've ever wanted for a quick buck. But just remember—I'm out of a house and my baby is shot to shit thanks your your fucking asses. So don't go and think that I don't have a reason to hate Shinra and your lot."

There were several raised eyebrows and Barret had to cough uncomfortably into his elbow. Cid made it sound like Zack and the gang had robbed him from his home and forced the guy to follow like a complacent child.

"It's not a big deal," Cloud said.

"Ain't gotta placate me. I know you all think I'm just some asshole pilot, and that's fine with me. Better than fine. I don't have time to deal with prissy little bastards getting clingy. I'm here because this shit can, maybe, get me into space. Since that's about as likely as getting the Vampire here to take off that fuckin' cloak, I'll just live my life to make them Shinra as miserable as possible. Just remember that I didn't have to save your asses in Rocket Town—they may have thought me a nutcase, but they didn't take me for a traitor. My ass is stuck with you little bitches."

Finishing his rant, Cid took a thick puff from his cigarette, letting the smoke swirl out of his mouth. He looked around at the members of Avalanche sitting, then a glance to Vincent, who stood only a few feet away. He tossed the bud to the ground and crushed it into the marble, pointedly staring at Vincent's face. "Anyone else got something they want to say? Huh? Or can we move the fuck on to whatever we need to?"

"It still brings us back to what we're going to do when we leave here."

"Good point, princess Cloud. So, we're just going to follow after psychic Aeris and her glowing key of shit? Fine, whatever."

Zack saw Cloud barely contain himself; he stood quickly, his hand reaching for his belt to grab a Summons materia. A look of comprehension crossed his face, and the ruthless angry dissipated.

Cid raised his eyes, the bottom of his lip turning down, and Zack could see unspoken words in the man's gaze, along with a critical assessment on him.

"We will trace out a map of the area we need to get to." Aeris ran her hands through her curling bangs before folding them on her lap, to the side. "I know where we need to go and that is all that matters."

"What're we going to find there?" Cait spoke from Yuffie's arms.

Aeris looked to the cat, her green eyes wide with an emotion Zack didn't fully grasp. She was still so very pretty, but Zack could see lines of worry crease at the corners of her eyes and the wrinkle of her brow.

"Hope," she replied, simply enough.

* * *

"Who do you think is the rat in our group?" Zack asked Cloud once he shut the thick wooden door. He cringed at the painfully-squeaking door hinges, before turning around, the small of his back pressing into the handle. "Because I've got money on Cid right now."

Cloud scratched at his head before rubbing the bridge of his nose and eyelids. He flopped himself unceremoniously backward onto one of the beds, a soft exclamation of protest coming from his parted lips. "Nice way to jump to a conclusion."

Zack put his hands behind his back, fiddling with the lock with great impatience. It clicked and Zack banged his skull against the wood. "Yeah, yeah. I know."

"Can you even trust this Kunsel guy?" Cloud pulled himself up, his elbows on his crossed knees. He cradled his jaw with this palms, twining his fingers together. "He still works for Shinra."

"And he saved our asses more times than I can count, Cloud."

This didn't seem to quench Cloud's thirst for knowledge on the man, but he bit his tongue. Zack could almost hear the surge of his desire to yell obscenities and questions. But instead Cloud mulled over his words before saying, with the barest traces of trepidation from his anger, "You trust too easily."

It was almost like a physical blow, but Zack took it in stride. He pushed himself off the wall and walked to the bed, sitting on the edge, fingering the comforter. "Yeah. I do trust too easily. Angeal said that was one of my biggest faults, wearing my heart on my sleeve a little too often, trusting the best in people rather than looking for the bad. But recently I've been thinking about it all..."

"I remember Sephiroth told you, during Wutai, that too much empathy would end up killing you."

Zack looked up, questioning. "I told you that?"

Cloud removed one hand from under his chin, running it over Zack's bicep and then to the man's battered pauldron. "Yep. Don't you remember?"

It was kind of hazy, but Zack could remember the outline of Cloud in his uniform, sitting next to him in his apartment.

"Yeah. I remember—I thought he was going to yell at me, but he was really nice about the whole thing. I thought he would think I was weak or something, not up to the task of killing the bad guys."

"You were still a kid," Cloud reminded.

"I know that," Zack snaked the arm that Cloud was fumbling with around him, pulling him close. "It's just... there was a lot of blood." He rested his nose against Cloud's, looking into his blue eyes, eyes that witnessed death so much in the past few years. "It's hard to kill, Cloud. I know you know it, and I know I know it, and yet we do it anyway."

"We try to cause as little bloodshed as possible."

Zack nodded, rubbing the bridge of his nose against Cloud's. "Yeah, I know." He pulled himself away, striking his arm underneath his head, leaning backward. "So, what do you think we should do tomorrow?" he asked again, darting off to another topic, one that was less likely to cause any mutiny on his... Cloud's part. The question was transparent enough that Cloud knew he was talking about the team's spy, and yet oblique enough to allow Cloud the ability to drop the subject to something else. There were a lot of things they could do tomorrow.

"First, we need to get out of here," Cloud commented. Zack watched with heavy-lidded eyes as the blonde pulled himself straight off the bed, his military boots clunking on the floorboards. "We go... southeast. I think that's what Aeris said, that she was feeling a pull to go to a temple."

"I don't think she said where it was."

"It's southeast," Cloud replied demurely. "I don't know why you're confused—she said we were going southeast not an hour ago."

**Why would he lie to you?**

Zack all but jumped out of his skin for a moment, before relaxing again. He turned his body to face the other side of the room, away from Cloud's gaze. It was so bizarre to think he could hear part of his subconscious sometimes, and it would be quite difficult to explain to anyone what he was doing if his lips moved to the words he wanted to say.

_It's just... it doesn't really make sense. I didn't hear her say it._

**You've never had the ability to stay focused for long periods of time, puppy. The fact that you missed something doesn't mean a lot in the grand scope of things. **

_There's been something weird going on with _Cloud_ for a while. He sometimes says things that don't make sense, or he brings up things I want to forget. And his eyes--_

**This isn't new, remember? It happens with people who have been overexposed to mako. It's surprising that you don't remember...**

_I remember... I don't know what I remember anymore. _

**I know what you remember, because I am you. Just think, let your senses unwind. Where have you seen eyes that glow green?**

_Wutai. _

Zack felt warm breath on his face. Looking up, he managed to catch the glint of deep ocean blue before he was enveloped in a kiss. It was brief, only lasting for a second (he hadn't even opened his mouth, Zack realized when they pulled apart,) but it helped sooth his nerves, which were fraying like a yarnball given to a kitten. Despite this, questions lingered in his mind, but he chose not to voice them in concern of angering Cloud.

It probably wasn't anything important, anyway.

The ubiquity of every question Zack posed bothered Cloud on a personal, confrontational, level. The constant bantering of cross-checking facts with other facts, and then cross-checking those facts again was beginning to wear thin on Zack, an old t-shirt falling apart on his own body. It wasn't that he was choosing with his own free will to pose questions that made Cloud angry—in fact, he couldn't have wanted anything less than a pissed of Cloud Strife. But they were just inconsistencies that really weren't.

Maybe he was losing it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Cloud questioned, and Zack finally noticed that Cloud was hovering over him a little, despite the fact that he was on his knees next to the bed.

"Nothing. Something. I don't know; it's no big deal." He smiled,a charming, lopsided grin that he used as a method of girl-catching a thousand years before.

Cloud's eyebrow rose.

"You know, you really do wear your heart on your sleeve."

Zack didn't take it as an offense—in fact, grunting as he leaned up at an angle that sent shoots of pain down his neck—he kissed Cloud again, just for good measure.

There was knock that the door which drove them apart, and Cloud brushed off his pants with the back of his hand as he stood.

"Door's locked," Zack told him, and Cloud nodded while walking over to the wooden door. It squealed again when he opened it, and in the dim light of the red hallway, Zack could make out the faces of two of his comrades.

Aeris was smiling, her pink hair-bow bobbing up in down as the woman excitedly clapped her hands together with child-like glee. There was a red blush to her cheeks and neck, the way they did such a long time ago when Zack would embarrass her. She didn't seem to fit in with the hanging bats and the coarse and low melody. Though, Vincent Valentine, who stood next to her with part of his face cloaked by his collar, certainly looked the part. Such an odd mix, though Zack thought it to be kinda cute in a disturbingly fucked up kind of way. All that he needed was a glass of blood and a bad accent and he could fit as the Vampire seducing the young virgin maiden.

"Vincent, Aeris," Cloud greeted, sweeping out of the way, gesturing for the two to enter the hotel room. "Any reason you've decided to drop by?"

"They want tea," Zack grumbled and covered his head with his arm, once against hiding his face from sight. It was also the flush that he chose to hide, as well. Aeris and Vincent may have been privy to the information that Zack and Cloud were together (Gaia, everyone except Tifa seemed to be hyperaware of the situation,) but that did not mean Zack wanted them to think that he was some kind of a dog. It wasn't even like they had sex yet.

A spasm of lust flitted across Zack's groin, and he quickly attempted to hide his half-mast from view. He sat up quickly, tossing his arms almost casually across his lap. "Nah, no tea. I'm not really into tea. I prefer coffee."

Zack saw Cloud wince. Probably from his stupidity, if he had anything to go on.

"No, Zack. We don't want any tea," Aeris laughed, pulling at her hair with wild, free strokes. "Vincent and I are going to have some fun, and we wanted you guys to come with us!"

_Fun? Vincent'sgoing on a date with Aeris—how did she manage to wrangle that out of him? And why invite us to go with her? So it's less likely that the others will see it as a date, and more as a friendly gathering? _

**Or she wants to enjoy a double date with you two.**

_Yeah, my ex-girlfriend, whose heart I broke, wants to go on a double date with me and my... with Cloud._

Zack didn't have time to answer, because Cloud was already talking fast. "—and I never really got to see much of it last time we were here. I didn't particularly want to, either. But that isn't the point. Zack, grab your wallet. We're going with them."

"Huh?"

Cloud smiled and scratched his knuckles on the rough fabric of his shirt. "You heard me," Cloud laughed. "We're going with them."

_What is going on here? _

Zack hesitated a second before looking up into Cloud's eyes. Where excitement should have been, Zack could see what others did not: worry and mistrust. The same question Zack wondered was also on Cloud's mind. There was also a part of Cloud that reeked of skepticism when it concerned the ex-Turk. With good reason to boot; why was Vincent keeping so thin-lipped in regards to his past, about the things that were currently affecting their lives. It was disheartening that Vincent was about as trustworthy as Cid.

"Okay... so, what do we do now?"

* * *

The night was more fun than Zack could have expected; first, they went for hamburgers in an old game arcade, eating their meals on top of vintage pinball machines. Zack thought it was a little flashy, more than it really needed to be, but Aeris seemed to be having the time of her life. Cloud, though having quite a bit more fun than he wanted to admit to) still had one eye on Vincent the entire time, wondering when the man would decide to strike. If he was going to strike.

But the man did no such thing. He sat with them in silence, only answering questions from Aeris when they were specific, and followed with his bleak, dark void of a personality and potentially a soul. Hiding behind his cloak, the red of his eyes barely visible, Zack didn't understand what was so appealing about the guy. In addition to that, Vincent had Chaos in his head, drinking fruity drinks by a pool filled with baby blood.

Logically, Zack held his tongue and watched Vincent carefully for any sign that he was going to do something to cause havoc or pain. It was a good thing that Cloud was doing the same thing, because their date was a dull affair.

It was almost ten when things became more interesting.

Standing in the center, near the carts that would bring them to their destinations, a woman was distributing fliers with a gusto Zack hadn't seen in a worker for years. The woman bounced up and down, running to and fro handing out the pink papers, her face flushed from overexertion and enjoyment. She ran forward, her customary pink and black uniform mussed and almost tossed up her papers before following after another guest.

Grabbing the flier from the air, Vincent passed it to Aeris, who quickly digested the contents before looking up, face lit with almost comical happiness. "There's supposed to be a play tonight!" Aeris positioned her stuffed moogle (won by Vincent in a sharpshooter game) and cradled it carefully in her arm, grabbing hold of Vincent's cloak with her other hand. "C'mon! Let's go see it!" Her face was flushed with the cheerfulness of a child, and pulled her stoic date forward, the man almost becoming unbalanced from the force she put behind it.

Zack looked over to Cloud, who watched the scene as well, his eyes slowly moving away from the couple as he noticed Zack was looking at him. His features softened and Cloud gave a short smile. He stepped back and scratched at his head. "I don't think he's trying anything," Cloud admitted. "It just seems that Aeris's persistent personality won the round. He's even being cordial and polite."

"That's a Turk thing. They can be some of the most polite and sophisticated people on the Planet one minute, and in the next you have a bullet in your head and a Turk burning your corpse." Zack flicked a stray spike out of his face with more force than necessary. "But you're right... I don't think he's going to start something right now."

"Are you two going to stand there all day, or are you coming?"

"Be right there!" Cloud yelled, more cheerful than he was previous, and tapped his foot on the sticky ground. "C'mon, let's go. We'll keep an eye out—I haven't seen any of the others since we left the hotel. I'm waiting for Cid to make some kind of move."

Zack couldn't stop his smile. "Let's go see this damn play, then." Tentative with his next move, Zack reached out and tucked Cloud's hand into his.

Cloud gave a squeeze. "Yeah, let's go."

They held hands throughout the cart ride to the amphitheater, discreet enough not to draw unwanted attention to themselves by either Vincent and Aeris or the other couples on their way around the Gold Saucer. No worrying about Tifa seeing or of someone trying to kill them; it was just bliss to be able to sit idly in a motorized mini-vehicle while holding the hand of the guy you loved. Aeris and Vincent sat in front of them, and despite his attempts to give the two privacy he could tell that Aeris had her hand resting On Vincent's. He did not reciprocate the touch, but he didn't draw his hand back.

It was disheartening to watch Aeris try to pick up the shattered pieces of a romantic heart he slowly corroded over the past several years. She was resiliently attempting to try something she never had the chance to do—he had unknowingly chained her down. Now that those chains were no longer there,she had the chance of entering into the world of the unknown, where nothing was quite as it was advertised. It didn't help that her first … crush... was an ex-Turk with violent, psychopathic monsters addling his brains. Vincent Valentine was missing his fair share of bolts.

Not that Zack had much of a right talking about addled brains.

When they reached the amphitheater, Zack and Cloud walked through the arch, seeing a stage fit for some kind of princess-themed play. Oh, he wasn't really into that kind of thing, but maybe there would be hope that it could make them laugh.

The buzzers, balloons and streamers began to fall when Vincent and Aeris walked in, and several excited workers grabbed the two, pulling them off.

"Wait!" Cloud yelled before Zack could grab him, and the bewildered look made him think of a kid spun around in circles a few times too many. "What was that?"

"I get it," Zack laughed. "That's why the girl was so excited. It's karaoke night—princess style."

His words didn't seem to make sense to Cloud, so Zack expanded upon his statement. "It's something the Gold Saucer is wildly known for throwing—generally when Dio gets bored. They force two people, who seem to be on a date, into playing in this horrible play. I've never seen it before, but if they got Aeris and Vincent playing the part, who knows what's gunna happen!" Zack laughed raucously. "Oh, boy."

The blonde didn't seem to understand the exact reason behind the mock-play, but instead of asking any further questioned, he uttered a quick "Whatever," before grabbing Zack's hand again and making their way through the throng of people to the front area. Pushing and shoving, and the ex-SOLDIER was pretty sure someone tried to grope his ass, they finally situated themselves in the fourth row, close enough to see the stage and yet far away that if Vincent lost his cool and decided to kill whoever forced him onto the stage. Actually, If he really thought about it, that meant he should have logically been in the first row, barely sitting in his chair.

Well, he was close enough.

* * *

"I can't believe you did that!" Aeris was holding her side, tears of mirth sliding down her cheeks, quickening with every hoarse laugh she released. "You... you... you!" she couldn't even finish her sentence, and fell back into her hysterical giggling.

"I did what I thought best," Vincent answered, and through his exterior assholishness, Zack could tell the man had a dry sense of humor that was begging for release.

"You ripped up that poor dragon!"

"I very well could not allow it to harm the princess."

"But it was a stuffed suit!"

"They should have thought of such things when they put a man with a metal arm on their stage."

"Bu—but! How were they supposed to know you'd tear it up?"

"That's none of my concern. And just remember, Miss Aeris, you were the one who punched me, leading to the incident in question."

"You'd just lit the poor dragon's suit on fire!"

"He told me to."

Zack was unable to keep his laughter in any longer, and joined Aeris in her stomach-clutching laughter.

"I... I... he said "She will never leave my spire!"

"Pardon me, but I thought he said 'Please light me on fire.'"

Zack could barely breathe, his laughter almost painfully choking him. It took Cloud, who was laughing a great deal less, to smack his back to get him to inhale.

"And then you informed me, through physical violence, to put him out. Thus, I did."

It was impossible for Zack to think of anything but the shaking theater kid running around in a dragon suit, attempting to put himself out. And then, like a monster ripped from the underworld, Vincent Valentine closing in on him, ripping off his suit with his glove.

It took nearly five minutes for Zack and Aeris to calm enough that they could attempt speech (the first time Aeris had straightened herself up Cloud had told her about the theater kid's pink underwear on fire, sending her into another peal of laughter) and by then their faces were the colors of a ready-to-burst bomb.

"You done?" Cloud asked, his face glowing with enjoyment. "There's only a few more minutes before they close down the gondola—let's go for a ride."

Zack wrapped his arm around Cloud's shoulders, partially for the closeness and the other to help him not fall back into laughter. "Sounds like a good idea ta me!" They weren't far from the gondola, and luckily, they were able to grab the last two rides before the bored teenager shut down his station.

Sitting himself down on the rough bench, Zack clasped his hands tightly on the wooden window sill, looking out over the glowing nightlife of the Gold Saucer. Cloud sat on the other side, leaning over the sill as well, resting his chin down over his hands.

"Look," Zack murmured, pointing toward the gold chocobo running across the final stretch, a black bird a beak away. "Which one's gunna win?"

"Gold," Cloud replied, and sure enough the gold chocobo managed to keep itself in first place.

"You'd know," he teased, tilting his neck to the side to see more of Cloud's face. There were hairs in front of his eyes and a misplaced spike stuck out at the top of the crown of his head that made Zack think of those old black-and-white movies from years ago. "I really love your hair."

The corner of Cloud's mouth rose. "I never guessed."

"It's just so beautiful. You have such soft hair, and mine is like rubbing your face against sandpaper."

"I like your hair." Heat rose in Cloud's cheeks. "It's comfortable to sleep with your head on my shoulder. I like whatever you use for shampoo, too."

At this, Zack laughed. "I've been stealing Aeris's shampoo for the last few weeks, actually. I couldn't find my own and I liked this one well enough."

"Girl."

"Yeah."

Comfortable silence is the only acceptable silence, though in that bried moment Zack wanted to open his mouth and just talk, talk about nothing at all. That was the impulsive man he was, wanting to do something at all times, and just sitting there was not enough. Cloud seemed to also notice it, because he stood up in the cramped gondola, nearly whacking his head on the ceiling, and pushed himself forward into Zack's lap.

"Don't get used to this," he said, his breath heavy. "I'm not into voyeurism."

"No one can see us." Zack nipped the other man's neck, letting his lips work their way up to his earlobe. He bit down on the soft flesh, a gasp erupting from Cloud's mouth. "Trust me."

Zack felt himself growing hard, and the front of his pants smashed into Cloud's with unadulterated passion, a fervor that only a man in crazy, silly, mind-blowing love could feel. He didn't want sex right now, despite how his body reacted against Cloud's body pressed against his, the blonde's sinful mouth against his face, tracing their way to Zack's mouth. Even if someone could see them, it wouldn't have bothered either in the least.

"Not too far." Of course, the ride was set on a ten minute schedule, and despite how quickly Zack could potentially pull his pants down and do the dirty in that time limit, he didn't want to.

"I don't want it that far," Zack gasped, opening his mouth for Cloud's intrusive tongue. Their mouths meshed together in a way that made Zack's knees give, and he was thankful they were sitting (though Cloud's current position was a little less than comfortable.) "And it's... you get to..."

"I know, you want me to be in control," Cloud whispered sensually against his open mouth, and the temptation to hold his partner was almost more than Zack could bear. "When the time comes, we'll know."

There was no chance in Shiva's tit that Zack would take Cloud's virginity on a ride in the middle of a theme park.

He didn't even know if Cloud _was_ a virgin. There were always jokes about Cloud's lack of sexuality, but Zack didn't even know if it was true.

He didn't ask, because it wasn't particularly right... after the night in Wutai, and his blatant (he loathed to calling it lying, but it was a vast gap between his response and the trust) incorrect information on his own sex life he couldn't very well ask Cloud about his own.

"Zack?" Cloud asked in a whisper, his lips bruised red against his mouth. "Zack... I want to know the real you. The parts you hide from everyone else, the parts you hide from youself."

"I'll let you see them soon, Cloud. I promise."

"When the time comes, I'll show you mine, too."

* * *

**Please Review!**


	80. Traitorous Dance

So, new chapter! Yay. Sorry I haven't updated in a while; school, costumes, running my own mini-company and getting the Jrock corner up have been sucking all of my time away. Now, without delay, the newest chapter which may shock some, but probably not all of you.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do now own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because its fun and I have no life- the end.

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Chapter Seventy Six: Traitorous Dance

If there were rules in Gaia specifically aimed toward those who are trying to save the damned piece of rock, they should not have cruel or malicious intent. However the case may be, Zack Fair knew that Minerva and all of her little munchkins were fucking with him. Because, as he realized once he stepped off the gondola, there was only so much any man could take.

Before the ride stopped, Cloud disentangled their clothing and hair, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. His lips were crimson in color and small pants escaped. The ex-SOLDIER noted with a certain amount of amusement that the entirety of Cloud's face, from the roots of his hair down to the barest glimpse of sculpted neck his shirt hid from sight, was a shade of red that was endearing.

"Didn't know you could blush so much," Zack said, standing up to catch a kiss from the blond, who was frantically running his hands through his hair to make it look less sex-tussled. "You don't have to do that, you know. No one but you and me will think your hair looks any different."

"You may think that, but I'd certainly feel more comfortable not looking like I just had sex. I wonder how many times the kid at the booth has seen it happen; I can't even imagine what it would be like to be the janitor in this place." Cloud ruffled the front of his spikes, yanking at a particular spot close to the hairline. "Damn curl," muttered Cloud, who after a few more fruitless and frustrating tugs let go and all but threw himself down onto the wooden bench where Zack had recently vacated.

"You stole my seat," Zack said, puckering his bottom lip out.

"You stole my heart, so I think it's a fair deal." A smile sprouted from the corners of his mouth. "Oh, that was suspiciously cheesy, Fair. I think you're finally rubbing off on me." Cloud leaned forward and grabbed Zack's wrist, pulling him down onto his lap. "And it looks like I'm also stealing your status as a top, too."

"Oh, woe is me. What will I do with myself?" Zack snickered. "Man, I love you." Leaning forward to take another kiss, his mouth met with Cloud's open palm. His tongue had already left his mouth and he tasted Cloud's sweat and Gaia knew what else his hands had touched since he last washed them. Zack rocketed himself off Cloud's lap, wiping at his mouth as laughter bubbled out. "Good one."

The blond smiled and splayed himself out on the wooden bench, resting his arm behind his head. His leather band and materia sparkled in the brief light of the fireworks. Cloud noticed where Zack's gaze lingered, and wiggled his arm a little more, the reds of the materia tinkling like glass marbles against one another. He wiggled his arm again, listening to the whimsical sounds of the music. "They actually like the movement," Cloud mentioned, offhand.

Zack's ears perked up. "I've never heard of that before," he said. "Can you explain it to me? I was decent with materia and summons when I was in SOLDIER, but I think you have a lot of raw talent in you." Zack glanced back down at the materia, dumbfounded by the souls inside. He had always felt the tug to know more about what they were. Sephiroth once said, long ago, that calling it magic was wrong. It was the knowledge of the past. Zack knew how to point and shoot, but there was something about Cloud that called to materia that sang like the tinkling glass on his wrist.

Cloud rolled his eyes, but gave a twist of his head that looked ever much like an affirmation. Zack leaned forward and grabbed his knees, childish enough to make the other man laugh. "C'mon, spill it!"

"Maybe later. We're about to get off."

He was right, of course. The ride buckled to a stop and Zack jumped up, straightening out his shirt, preening. "Do you think I look sex-tussled enough for the both of us?" he asked, wiggling his hips. "After all, no one is expecting us to come out prim and proper." Zack slung his arm around Cloud's neck, making the other wobble to keep his balance.

"I expect us to be prim and proper," Cloud announced and ducked through the exit. There was an almost invisible flare at his hips, and Zack could only laugh—the little tease.

* * *

"Is that what I think it is?" Cloud said, nudging Zack with his elbow. They just left the ride and were walking among the dregs of couples, when Cloud pointed off in the distance toward a loading mini-car. From what Zack could see, it was Aeris and Vincent.

"She's cuddling him."

"I noticed," Zack said, his mouth drying like salt being dropped on a slug. "Surprised he is letting her. Maybe we should stop them—I don't trust his little demon," he reminded, pushing his hands into his pockets.

"Neither do I," Cloud responded with a wary look toward the two, "but she's an adult. I doubt he'll let her cuddle him for much longer—doesn't seem the type."

Zack stomped his foot a little harder than he expected, the metal under his foot wobbling. "Oops," he muttered without much apology.

"You don't need to act like that, you know." Cloud avoided a nearby couple holding hands, ducking out of the way. Zack looked over and noticed tense lines around Cloud's mouth. He refused to hold Zack's gaze. "You guys broke up, and you keep telling me that you," Cloud dropped his voice, "that you love me."

His body tensed. "I do."

Cloud edged toward Zack, his shoulder butting against the other's arm. "Then stop looking at her. She's a big girl—leave her be. Didn't you say that it wasn't going to work out with her anyway? That you two grew apart? Why can't she be happy?" Cloud tossed his front bangs out of the way with a hmph. "You're acting like a jealous ex-boyfriend."

Zack's feet, despite attempting to move them, were glued to the spot. "I am?"

Cloud neither stopped nor turned in the direction Zack was moping. "Yes, you are..." He accentuated his answer with a throaty cough. "And it doesn't exactly feel like a picnic, Zack."

"I'm not exactly trying to be a jealous ex-boyfriend."

"Doesn't mean you aren't doing it."

"Just like you're avoiding Tifa! Seriously, we've both got our little issues, but yours is a fuck ton worse." Huffing, Zack wiped at his brow, accidentally hitting his hand so hard into his temple that he saw stars. When he looked back after wiping at his eyes, there was a twitching boy staring back. "I... I didn't mean it like that."

"You meant it exactly how you said it. So, avoiding confrontation is exactly like pining over your ex-girlfriend?"

"I wasn't _pining_," Zack cut, "I'm just worried that she's gunna do something stupid with-" Zack cut himself off, looking around at a few people who were curiously staring. "Nothing to see here, people," he responded harshly, clapping his hands together. "Can't even talk without people thinking it's their damn business."

When the onlookers finally had the decency to look away (_only after being shamed,_ Zack thought with a hint of disgust) the ex-SOLDIER noticed that Cloud was a little ways away, brooding.

Zack jogged forward, putting his hands behind his head. Cloud fastidiously stared off in the opposite direction of the loading cars and his gaze followed the speed racing cars, shooting their guns off at cacti and ghosts. There was a glow from the fireworks, and they shined on Cloud's pale skin, shimmering in the light.

_I remember a night like this._

"Do you think gods exist, Cloud?"

Finally he looked over, blue eyes drawn together. "Why do you want to know?"

Zack chuckled. "You can't know for sure, but I never believed in them. Do you?"

"I don't know. Ma believed in them sometimes."

Zack reached forward, running the back of his fingertips across the hollow of Cloud's throat. "I never did. Only human gods—like Sephiroth. I never really believed in gods or goddesses. Never had the need to." Cloud's throat yielded to his touch, and he continued to run them across the sensitive skin. They were standing closer together now, not too out of place among the other couples. Zack took a look around and saw a spot near the chocobo track that was vacant. "C'mon."

The fireworks display was hindered by the racing track, only allowing a few bursts to caress the sky. he colors bled through like a kaleidoscope.

Cloud reached down and grabbed his hand. "I don't want to fight with you, Zack. Just... just know that sometimes you've got a bad way of showing you care about people. I don't even think you notice it half the time. You can be so oblivious..."

"Who're you callin' oblivious? Pot, meet kettle."

Cloud whacked him lightly with his other hand. The other never let go of Zack's hand. "Don't act like you're better than me. We're both fucked up, probably more than what's good for us and the people around us. But there's nothing that we can do about it, is there? Just got to move of and accept the facts. Accept that particular fate."

"Do you believe in fate?" Zack looked over to Cloud, whose eyes glowed like stars.

"I haven't got a choice."

"What'd you mean by that? Of course you have a choice—if there's someone like a god playing with our strings, you cut yourself down. Never live the way someone expects you to, just because they think they know better for you. If you do that, why even live?" Zack put his hand on the fence, linking his fingers through the metal. "If you're being caged in, like chocobos," four of them rand by, their feathers ruffled near the ending stages of their race, "If we're just like _them,_ I'd die. Confined by something someone else dreamed up?" He snorted. "I think I can come up with a million different alternatives."

"But what if there are no alternatives?"

Zack stared at Cloud's face, noting the stress and weariness of Cloud's entire body—how his back slouched more than ever, like an old man who worked too hard for nothing at all. "You're really worried about this, aren't you?"

Cloud dropped Zack's hand and placed both on the fence with bruising force. The entire fence shook. He didn't say anything, buy his gestures spoke for themselves.

"Is this about those people in Cosmo? About the creepy weird nicknames and you being expected to be something you aren't? Or is it about your eyes doing that green glow thing? Because, Cloud," Zack put his hand over Cloud's and felt the tremors still shaking the bars. "I don't care about an of that. No matter what it'll be you and me. We don't need someone pulling our strings—we'll get by on our own. I promise."

He ran the pad of his thumb over each knuckle and indent before setting his hand over Cloud's, pressing his fingers through each of Cloud's knuckles. He grabbed onto the tender side of his hand and stepped behind the blond. Letting his nose rest in Cloud's warm hair, Zack looked out what his... what his Cloud was seeing.

"I think there's something wrong with me," Cloud started.

"Don't be silly. If there's something wrong with you that means there's something wrong with me. And we all know the only thing wrong with me is my devilishly good looks and witty charm." Zack smiled broadly into Cloud's tresses, burying himself in the scent that was distinctly his. It smelled like sandalwood and cherry blossoms, along with a hint of something Zack could only remember in dreams. It was a woody smell, like the bark of a tree he grew up surrounded by... what were the called?

"I'm serious."

"And so am I," Zack responded with a half-hearted mumble. "Every time you think you're weird, remember that there's bound to be someone a hundred times worse off than you. At least you know that you're loved and that the people who love you know who you are, even if you don't." The blond's hair tickled his nose, and he blew air against it, making it billow and blow in all direction.

Cloud elbowed him lightly with his unbound arm, and slowly turned himself, not letting go of Zack's hand. "You know what to say sometimes," he responded. "Other times it's like you're reciting an awful text on how to show your love, SOLDIER-style."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Cloud leaned backward into the chain-link fence as Zack's lips descended on his neck, their bodies hidden by the sliver of darkness provided to them from an overlooking building. The fireworks continued to spark and shatter the night sky, their loudness only a distant memory in Zack's ears.

"I..." Cloud began, digging his fingers into Zack's raven hair. "I want you to..."

Breathing heavily, he ran his tongue against Cloud's Adam's apple, feeling the vibrations of Cloud's whimpering and moaning. His entire body pulsed with life and lust, and it took Zack more self-control than he thought he even had to stop himself from yanking down their pants and fucking Cloud senseless against the metal fence.

"I want you to... make love... with..." Cloud breathed heavily, and Zack became excited, feeling his body react.

_Just say it, please._

"I want you to make love to- Cait and Tseng."

Zack licked his lips. "Absolut- wait. What?"

Cloud disentangled himself from Zack, pushing him away, but not quite out of the sliver of darkness. "Cait and Tseng," Cloud responded,, taking in a deep breath. "They're over there. What the-"

Zack snapped his head right; he could see the outline of the Turk and Cait Sith walking by quickly, not particularly making any attempt of hiding themselves from view. The two were talking quite quickly, Cait's motorized mouth yapping on while Tseng mostly stared off with little appreciation for what was going around him. However, Zack quickly noticed that wasn't the case when Tseng grabbed Cait by the scruff of the neck and took off toward the loading cars. There was something glittering in Cait's paws, and Zack screamed something not even he understood.

The key.

"He saw us!" Cloud yelled as the traitor and Turk took off into the tunnel, not even attempting to load any of the waiting cars. He took off, grabbing Zack's hand and tugging him forward with him; they were running through the thinning crowds and past the couples, ignoring their feet sticking to the ground.

_It was Cait Sith—why hadn't I thought about it in the first place? Why was a machine with a mind of its own—why didn't we catch on sooner. It was just a motorized spying machine. Shinra's known everything we've been doing for the past few months because we stupidly brought along a talking cat and it's fucking mog!_

Zack pushed past Mog, knocking the stuffed animal down. It looked around piteously for a moment, if a stuffed mog could have emotions, before waddling itself back up. Zack didn't even think twice about helping the little monster; Cloud and he were going to rip the stuffing out of it when they got their hands on Cait anyway.

"He's got the key!"

"I know!"

The crowd was confused and scared, not understanding why they were running past and screaming expletives whenever someone stupidly stepped in their direction. They generally stayed out of the way, until the two reached the Chocobo Square, where the groups of people simply crowded around them. They fought their way through the throngs of people watching the races, ungraciously knocking a few pedestrians around with them.

"Sorry!" Zack yelled as he knocked another person with bad timing down. Cloud was a few paces in front of him, elbowing his way through the groups of people who were unwilling to move out of the way.

So many people—it felt like he was drowning in them. Even though it was past midnight, according to the clock above the ticket booths, gambling never ended.

"Do you see them?" Zack gasped, hitting himself in the chest with his clutched fist, coughing and hacking.

The throng of people was behind them, and the stairs ahead looked a little daunting, with various people and workers standing about. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a glint of red and gold—a cape and a crown.

"There!" Zack yelled as he took off down the stairs, avoiding a couple and a jockey, barely missing getting smacked in the face with his riding crop.

Tseng looked exactly like he did the last time Zack saw him—haughty and well-groomed, his long black hair tied out of his dark gray eyes. Despite having run for well-over ten minutes his suit didn't even bear a single trace of dirt or wrinkle, and his breathing was solid and normal. He sneered through the breaking crowd at Zack, and threw Cait Sith down once a helicopter approached.

Willing his feet just a little faster, Zack took off with a burst of speed. Tseng boarded the helicopter with dizzying speed. Despite the extra effort he put into catching him, preventing the Turk from running off with Aeris's key... his fingers only met the rough wind of the quickly-disappearing vehicle. Just a few seconds too late, only able to grasp at emptiness.

Zack dropped to his knees, looking next to him to see Cait with its head in its hands, sitting gloomily on the ground.

"What the fuck?" Zack yelled, grabbing the little shit by the neck. "I thought you were our friend! I thought we could trust you, you little shit! Who the fuck are you, Cait? How long have you been lying—I should've known you were a fucking spy." Breath ragged, Zack squeezed harder until the mechanical cat's gears began to grind and it spluttered out various words that Zack couldn't hear—didn't particularly want to hear.

"Let him go, Zack," Cloud was saying in his ear, holding him under his armpits, trying to drag him up and away from the little monster.

"Why! Why shouldn't I squeeze the little fucking thing's head off?"

There was a sound of a radio transmittance and someone's voice began to speak through Cait's slack mouth. Zack dropped Cait, nearly tumbling back into Cloud.

"Because if you destroy Cait Sith I will be forced to take retribution."

"Who the fuck are you?"

There was a squeak and a buzz, the volume increasing. "This is a member of Shinra Inc. I do not wish to reveal my name at the moment, but you may call me Cait Sith's... father of sorts." Cait moved its hands to its neck, rubbing where Zack squeezed. "He's normally on A. I., not recording... if you were wondering."

"Like fuck is it only on A. I. You've been tracking us; spying on us. How long? Since the beginning?"

Cait nodded and the voice said, "Yes. From the beginning. Though, it's been quite a while since I last controlled him. But," Cait clapped its hands together and straightened its crown, "enough chatting. I'm here to make sure you don't kill my work."

Zack spat, and Cloud growled into his ear. "There's nothing you can do that'll stop me from ripping the little machine's head off."

The person on the other side tsked. "Actually, there is something that will stop you from ripping his head off..." the line died for a moment before static interference buzzed and- "Is that you, Papa? I'm scared! There's these guys and I don't like it. Papa? You there, Papa? I wanna talk to my daddy!"

All of the air in Zack's lungs choked out and his fingers went numb.

The line broke, and the man's voice continued. "I'm terribly sorry about that-"

"You're using a little kid as bait!" Cloud yelled at Cait, who covered its ears. The mechanical cat was trying to say something, but its voice was overrode by its master's. "You lying, dirty Shinra SHIT."

"I wish that there was something else that could be done," the man said and despite the face that there was pity and humility in the voice, he couldn't believe it. This just proved the point that anything to do with Shinra was automatically evil. Even if you sounded sorry you really weren't. "Orders are orders, and this one was specific. Please inform Mister Wallace that as long as Avalanche does not attack Midgar or Shinra affiliates, and you keep Cait Sith running... nothing will harm his daughter. Or Miss Gainsborough... and Marlene's biological father. He was quite hard to get our hands on, though once he told us where the key was we knew where we could track you down to."

"You mean you tortured it out of him?" Zack shot.

"Not exactly... just some tactical suggestions by the Turks. No one was hurt in the process."

Cloud whispered, "They threatened Marlene."

Zack nodded with certainty—Dyne seemed to be a man that would die rather than betray his friends. But if they threatened to hurt Marlene... Zack understood that Dyne wouldn't be able to not talk, and so did Cloud.

"So, we just let your little mouse keep following us, learning about everything we do? You're asking us to trust you, a Shinra spy?"

The voice stopped, and for a moment Zack thought the reception was cut. Then, with a hint of sadness, the voice responded. "I'm telling you."

* * *

**So, how'd you like this chapter? I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I hope you guys will enjoy the next chapter as well! Sorry about the length being a little shorter than you're used to—it's been a while since I wrote and I think the next couple chapters are going to wipe us all out in length. Anyway... **

**Please Review!**


	81. Recollection One: A Little Prayer

Author Notes: Hey, guys. I know some of you don't really read the Re-Chapters, but I really want to suggest that you read this one, because it will tie in quite a few things later on that you'll be lost without... Remember how file 201745 was just a throw-away name until the last few chapters? Well, things like that get thrown around in these chapters too. So, I suggest you buckle in and keep reading!

Also, note that there is sexual content in the very last part of the chapter.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

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Recollection One: A Little Prayer

Dyne bit his tongue until it bled, spitting red and yellow onto the Turk's clean white shirt. Holding out wasn't an option anymore—but hoping that they would just kill him was still on the table. Just angering the Turk could have been enough, maybe. Enough that he wouldn't stab his best friend in the back, stab the people who saved him from himself.

The Turk was what Dyne considered a conventional beauty- long blonde hair, tiny nose, wide lips and a nice rack (hidden by her now blood-stained work shirt.) If it had been ten years ago, this was the kind of woman he would have chased after. His deceased wife looked a bit like her he noted with a scowl, and bit the tip of his tongue again, feeling the blood swell between his teeth.

He wanted to punch her in the face.

Despite the fact that she didn't say a word, nor did her face morph into disgust, Dyne knew he had to have hit something—she wailed on his face so hard that when he bit down again, his teeth clamping with a lock-tight grip and the tip of his tongue floated in the blood dribbling out of his mouth.

"I liked that shirt," the woman said, ignoring Dyne who coughed. He hadn't bitten off enough to choke to death; too bad. It would have been a better choice than what the Turk was offering. He looked forlornly at the piece of his tongue near his head, not sparing a glance at the bitch before him.

"I guess making you talk isn't going to be as simple as I thought..." The Turk slid her hand into her pocket, and Dyne would have flinched from the flash of black he saw (_just a few more seconds—bullets through major organs kills quick.) _But, it was only a phone. "You made this harder on yourself than it had to be—just remember that. All I wanted was a little information on Avalanche—nothing but a shake of salt to you."

He ignored her, though. There wasn't a whole lot she could do that would actually hurt him—he could take torture. Fuck, death didn't bother him all that much. Corel Prison did its number on Dyne, and whatever this chick was about to dish out couldn't be half as bad as the things they did when he was in prison, before he made them all lick his boots. One little Turk wasn't going to break him, make him want to beg for anything.

Barret would be proud.

Dyne breathed through his nose, leaning his head to the side as to let the blood drain down his face. The scent bothered him more than the ache of his mouth—the overpowering, raw, stomach-churning reminder that he was still human. He could bleed and cry, even when people like that stuck up prick Shinra couldn't. Did it make him feel more alive? Not particularly.

Shuddering from a chill (though where it came from, Dyne wasn't sure,) he moved around to lean on his side, resting his forehead against the metal. "I'm not gunna talk, bitch," Dyne spat, though the strength of his vocabulary was lost with the jarring sounds of his spluttering and blustering lisp.

The Turk pat his cheek, a sweet gesture if not for her being his capture. "Just a moment, now. She'll be here shortly. I'm sure you'd be excited to see her—it's been so long. How many years, now? Four? The poor _dear _more likely than not doesn't know who you even are. Wallace never seemed too keen on talking about you."

Her verbal assault was a punch to the gut. Marlene... sweet, little Marlene. She looked so much like her Mama, even though Barret told him she looked like him. It'd been so long, so long... he would have given his other arm to see her again in any other circumstance. Now, he knew he'd shew through his arm to make sure she never saw him again.

"She's just a little girl!" Dyne yelled, frantically looking around the room. He could only lift himself a little from the chains shackled around him. Would it be enough room to—no, it wasn't. That much was obvious. "You're gunna kill me in front of a little girl?"

The Turk smiled, her brown eyes heavy. "Oh, I wouldn't dream of that," she responded, running her hand against his throat. Red painted nails dug into the skin of his neck, but he didn't hiss. "I have something much more interesting planned... I believe she's wearing a white dress—perhaps we could play a little game of Wedding. I could call in Skyler; he's always had a thing for pretty little girls." She nicked his skin with her pinky nail when he inhaled sharply. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind laying little Marlene down on that floor, pulling up her dress. How much do you think she'd bleed?"

Every button that Dyne had, she knew how to push. A mantra rang in his head, the panic of a father for their child.

"What'd you wanna know?"

* * *

Elmyra knew that their tentative silence was over the minute the Turks showed up at her front door. She had debated making a spectacle of herself, figuring out a way to stop little Marlene from being caught. Marlene practiced hiding from those who would wish her harm every day—hiding in the house and the surrounding areas. Elmyra just had to give her a few moments spare time, time that she would gladly give her life for.

But, things hadn't gone according to plan. If she were honest with herself, she knew that the plan wouldn't work from the beginning. Leeches the Turks may have been, but they were damn fast and good at their jobs. The only reason Aeris was never caught was because someone on the food-chain took a fancy to her daughter. Tseng could be a good man, but he was ruthless and didn't mind bloodshed—but in his own twisted way, he had felt something for Aeris. Marlene and Aeris did not have that in common: the Commander of the Turks couldn't care less about the daughter of a known terrorist.

So, when the young blond man politely (oh, so politely considering they had their hands on their weapons) told Elmyra to grab the girl and not try anything funny, she obeyed. She could deal with dying for a cause but not for martyrdom without at least the tiniest shred of hope.

She hadn't prayed in years—not since her husband died and Aeris came into her life. It felt almost wrong to pray in front of her daughter. But now it didn't matter so much because, really, what else did she have left to do?

The boy, Skyler from what he had said when he waltzed into her home, was far more kind than the woman expected. He gathered up a few sparse supplies that he said they would need, while she hurried to Aeris's bedroom to retrieve Marlene. There was another one who followed her up the stairs so she wouldn't try anything.

When she got to the room, Marlene was hiding under the bed with her face blotched red. Quickly patting the girl on the cheek and telling her to go downstairs, Elmyra grabbed a suitcase from under the bed and without preamble began to stuff it with clothing.

The man watching her, his very presence made Elmyra nervous; it was as if he knew every thought she possessed and deemed her an inferior insect, a petty vermin he desired nothing more than to smash with his heel. Sebastian was his name, if Elmyra listened close enough. He reminded her of beautiful monsters, like Sephiroth or those two other SOLDIERs that defected years before. And, in a bizarre way, he reminded her of Zack.

It wasn't the cold or aloofness, but the color of their eyes and sun-kissed skin that reminded her of wild jungles and foliage. Briefly, Elmyra entertained the thought that the two were relations of sort. But just as quickly as it entered her mind she erased the thought in its entirety; while she would never appreciate that her daughter decided to fall in love with someone affiliated with Shinra and would leave her at a whim (she had to forcibly remind her that it wasn't really Zack's fault for Aeris's teary and lonely nights and accidentally slammed the top to her suitcase, not paying mind to the various clothing and ruffles that stuck out of the sides) Zack wasn't a Turk.

At least that counted for something.

"Your home is... quaint," the Turk finally said, grabbing the woman's luggage with one hand, the other resting on the hilt of his katana. "It is quite unfortunate that it won't be around for much longer." His upper lip turned up in the slightest hint of a smirk before he jerked his head toward the door. "Let's go, then."

Not bothering to say anything on the matter (because, truly, what good would it do to complain? She was lucky she wasn't getting shot in the forehead) Elmyra followed behind Sebastian, her eyes glazing over with wetness. Each step was another memory—her husband walking up the stairs, nailing their first photograph onto the wall. A crying Aeris talking to her deceased mother, even though she understood that Ifalna could not respond back. A trip down the last two stairs that sent Elmyra into a panic with a broken ankle until her daughter's healing green wisps touched her... so many memories of burning dinner because the two were outside in the garden or sweet cakes on New Years.

It was there home, and soon it would be gone.

Burned to ashes, so very much like her heart.

* * *

Kunsel wasn't an idiot—something was going on with Shinra. The backstabbing, lying, deceitful ways the company were run: it was amazing the company hadn't fallen down on his head already. Alas, he couldn't do anything obvious about the predicament until all of the pieces were set into place. It was the ultimate game of chess... only, rather than pieces falling it would be bodies.

He spent a lot of his time worrying over things, the people who would be hurt and those who would be left behind. In an age where empathy was a disease, he knew that his wandering mind wouldn't get him any favors. Lucky as he was, there was no way to tide the anger of one of the higher-ups if they ever caught wind of the things he was doing.

Technically, in the most basic and bland of terms, Kunsel was on hiatus from the company; as a Second Class SOLDIER with high-rank (though not high enough to cause unwanted attention from those who would want to derail him from his plans) and even higher integrity, the Company didn't think he would stray too far. His vacation time was his to do as he pleased with it—chasing down his closes friend just seemed like the only thing he knew he could do.

Now dead Senior Shinra must have been rolling in his grave. The corporate dog cutting off his collar... what a mess it would be in a few weeks when the Head of the SOLDIER Department realized that he wasn't coming back.

Kunsel even cleaned out his footlocker.

He knew what the plan was—help Zack, fight the bag guys, prevent the destruction of all society, et cetera, et cetera.

Sometimes he truly wondered how he got himself into these situations.

Laying down on his (admittedly comfortable) hotel bed, Kunsel prayed to any god or goddess who would dare listen.

It wasn't easy for him to leave everything he had known and in the back of his mind Kunsel remembered how much he owed Shinra. They got him out of the little back-water town near Mideel, trained him, educated him, took considerably good care of him as a student, grunt, and then SOLDIER. But, ever since the end of the Wutai War there was something lingering in the back of his mind, poking and prodding, attempting to free itself. There was something just inherently wrong about the company he spent so much time and energy working for. SOLDIERs—there was something weird about them.

Of course Kunsel knew most of the gossip floating about, and so much of his trust was shattered when he found out that Zack was still alive. He tried helping Cissnei, but... it ended up with her dead and from what little information he retrieved from his leak in the Turks, almost Zack and Cloud, too. Those two, they made it so far without anyone's struggle but their own. There was no way that Kunsel could ever properly apologize to those two... if only he had heard the information Cissnei gave him before the mission started, before they got to Nibelheim.

Things would have been so different.

Cissnei had taken all of the blame for their actions: she bit her tongue and told the higher-ups that it was only her, that she acted on her own volition. They killed her, brutally from what Kunsel heard. The first President probably took out his anger and frustrations out on her before they were finished.

Kunsel tried to steal the pieces back from the Science Lab, but he would have shown his true face to do so. He wasn't going to jeopardize every action the now-dead Turk had gone through to keep his neck safe...

he remembered her eyes, so vivid against the pale coloring of her cheeks. The red hair trickling down her neck, a thousand little ringlets... if only he could have reached out and touched her just to make sure that she was real. Nothing would bring her back, or the short time they spend together as associates (though Kunsel wished that it had been more, Cissnei never dared to trod out of the realm of innocent banter and occasional brushing of hands.)

"'You'll never know how important he is, how important both of them are.'" Kunsel had repeated her last words to him over and over again, a way to think of something else, to keep his mind on the task laid before him. No second chances or replays—there was only one chance, one shot.

If Cissnei were around, she would know what to do. She'd wink at him before grabbing his arms, yanking Kunsel off the bed and send him off to work on something that would actually do some good.

She wasn't, and all the SOLDIER could do was pray that she would give him a sign, any sigh, as to where to go from there.

* * *

In the trembling silence of night, Akina forced her breathing to even. She swallowed, her pale throat glistening with a slight sheen of sweat.

This was a game her particular client enjoyed—the ability to stop breathing or to breathe so shallowly that one would think her dead... a still doll for them to play with at their beck and call. She didn't particularly find the man's obsession with this kink amusing, but there was little she could do; refusing admittance to one of the Butterfly House's most decadent and frivolous spenders was not a way to run a business. Not that she truly wanted the business to flourish. It was her prison that employed others like her, those who were thrown from their respectable homes for one reason or another. The boys here, the young girls in the Sakura House a few blocks to the east.

They were specialized whores, made of sturdy bones and flesh, only tainted with something they could not handle. No one came to her Houses with plans of becoming an excellent prostitute—they came under the hand of her father and a leather whip. Choice was a fabrication to placate those who did worry, the sparse number they were.

It didn't happen so often anymore—people questioning whether the people they lay with were forced into the position because of a mistake they did not commit, a grievous error in the judgment of the ones they loved.

The price of freedom is steep.

The price of freedom does not exist.

Sometimes, when she lay with men who wanted her silence, she would think of how things would change, if things could change. In ten years would she continue to be imprisoned in her own walls? Would Godo sell her orr, per chance slit her throat in sleep? What a mess that would be... poor Riku would need to clean up after the mess. Would he be sick to his stomach cleaning the gore and blood of his precious Mistress from the satin sheets?

Children's stomachs could handle more now than they could when she was a child.

Akina knew that from personal experience.

During these moments of numbness, Akina's eyes would glaze and stare off in the distant direction of the window. Understanding that even if occasional pleasure raced through her body she could not move, her gray eyes would catch the sight of the drapery blowing in a non-existent wind. The moon peeked out through the material, a wisp of beauty for just a brief moment.

When she was younger, one of the woman who prayed in the temple told her that the sun was that mother of the moon, who was the mother of the Planet. The moon tugged them with her whim, allowing the lifestream to move beneath the soil.

She breathed in as the man inside her shuddered, a slight catch in her body.

There was no pleasure in this.

Only pain.

Feeling fluid leaking from her most private parts and her own flaccid organ limping between her legs, Akina closed her eyes and pulled her legs closed. The customer had his fill—now it was time to accept the shame.

_Please do not look at me, Mother._

_I am not worthy of pity._

* * *

**Please Review and tell me what you think!**


	82. And the Glass Shatters 1

Author Notes: Hey, you guys. I published this chapter today, for a particular reason. You see, three years ago today, I was sitting in my room dealing with a bout of illness. I began this story after a series of events that convinced me to write something, anything, to save Zack Fair's life. Three years and almost four hundred thousand words later, we are here—at one of the turning points of the story.

Thanks, every single one of you. You guys stuck with me through thick and thin, plot holes and spelling errors, infrequent updates and a whole slew of other messes. I cannot even begin to explain my gratitude to you all.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Seventy Seven: And the Glass Shatters, Part 1

There were currently only two choices of action: to tell or not to tell.

No matter which one they decided, Cait would continue the trip on with them. That was a non-negotiable requirement that they had no choice but to follow. Whoever was controlling Cait Sith could probably tell if the electronic cat went off line and if that happened... Marlene, Mrs. Gainsborough, Dyne. Nothing would be able to protect them.

Which was perhaps why Zack was leaning more to not telling the others. It would come out eventually, but the last thing that Zack needed was for Barret to completely lose his cool and fill the no-good fluff monster with a thousand rounds of bullets before finding out that Marlene was in danger of being hurt.

Then again, if they waited to tell everyone that Cait Sith was a traitor to the group, they could tell himself really awful that would be used against them at a later date. Who really knew if Cait Sith's master knew much about everything that was going on. Party dynamics maybe, but personal weaknesses could hit a person in the worst way. What if the damn cat knew about Reno? Love wasn't anything to play around with, and if Shinra knew that Reno was willing to bend or outright break rules for Zack under the banner of love, who knew what would happen? Or if Aeris let slip about Kunsel...

A brief flash of green through his mind reminded him of yet another thing... This Tenacity Experiment. Creating a child to be Jenova to birth a demi-god...would Shinra think that the flashes in Cloud's eyes were this? After all, most of the world was convinced that Sephiroth had been a demi-god before his supposed death. What if, rather than focusing all of their intentions on Sephiroth they would turn around to Cloud? Zack couldn't protect him, Cloud couldn't protect himself from their direct attention. They nearly didn't escape last time they went after them.

But, how much did Shinra really know about what was going on with Cloud in the first place? They went through quite a bit of trouble trying to get their hands on him on the boat and in Rocket Town. Hojo seemed to want something from Cloud as well, even going as far as to say he would exchange Zack and Aeris's protection for Cloud... the time spent in the lab...

No good could come from any of this, Zack was sure.

"Zack," Cloud started, reaching out a hand to grab his shoulder.

Zack quickly avoided the touch.

"I need to think," Zack stated, looking at Cait Sith's waddling form in the distance.

Could he even tell Barret that his daughter was now in the hands of the Turks?

"Correction," Cloud said as he grabbed Zack's hand from his side, swinging him around to look into the bright blue eyes of his... his Cloud. "We've both got to come up with an answer as to what we've got to do now. I'm not even going to think about going back to the hotel until we figure out something-"

"I just want to kill that damn thing!"

"I do too!" Cloud yelled, the grip on Zack's arm so tight that the SOLDIER could already see the faint blueish tinge cracking between Cloud's fingers. "But we can't, so we better figure out something to do before we get back to everyone. Just think about what would happen if we just blurted out that we had a traitor in our midst? Think of everyone panicking and trying to kill each other. And that's if we don't just straight-out tell them that it was Cait Sith."

Zack reached up, rubbing his palms over his eyes in a rhythmic motion. "Are we going to tell them? Or are we gunna pretend that everything's a-okay?"

Cloud's lips drew into a diminutive frown. "I don't think we've got much of a choice. We can pretend everything's okay with," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "Vincent. But we can't hide this. It's too dangerous."

"Yeah, I figured as much. The last thing we need is to accidentally drop a big hint about something important and have the enemy know more about us than we'd like."

"I'd rather them not know _anything_ about us, but you're right." Cloud crossed his arms, uncrossed them, and then sighed before tossing one of his blond spikes from his eyes. "Why do we have to be the ones who do everything?" If he hadn't said it to Zack, it would have sounded like a childish complaint. But, to the ex-SOLDIER, it was just tired honesty.

"Want my opinion?" Zack asked, and one of Cloud's eyebrows raised in interested. "Well, I think that if there's a Goddess she really enjoys fucking with us."

Cloud choked on his snort.

"Don't go dying on me," said Zack, patting Cloud on the shoulder. "We still need to figure out what we're going to do about Cait, and I'd really prefer not having to do that on my own."

* * *

When Zack summoned the entire group into his room and told them what was going on, the reaction was very much how they expected it to go—

Cid bit his cigarette filter off and began shouting obscenities, waving his spear around like it would magically poke holes into Shinra's side (though it did hit the bed twice, leaving holes in the sheets). Tifa found herself restraining Barret, whose face had gone a sickly shade of gray when it was mentioned that no, they couldn't kill the robot because Shinra currently held Marlene hostage as blackmail. Yuffie sat dejectedly in the corner with Red attempting some vague form of comfort (though Zack could not tell for sure—Red could have very well have been telling Yuffie that there were more traitors floating around than just herself.) And Aeris and Vincent...

Well, Aeris looked rather ruffled, and Vincent was still rather stoic, but... Zack was confident Aeris's rumpled dress and messy hair had less to do with Cait Sith's betrayal. It was not his place to say anything about it, though.

Cait at least had the decency to avoid looking at any of the AVALANCHE members, from self-preservation or genuine shame was anyone's guess. As long as it kept its head down, it would be a little easier to fall between the cracks.

"That's my fuckin' daughter, you good-fer-nothin' stupid machine!" Barret raged, nearly toppling Tifa over with his swipe toward the monster in the fluffy suit. "MY DAUGHTER."

"Barret!" Tifa yelled as the man finally pulled free of her arms, flinging her down onto the floor. She fell with a crash, Zack running toward her while Cid, Vincent, and Cloud tackled Barret.

She was bleeding from where she had fallen into the bed frame, a large, jagged cut inched across her arm, bleeding into her white sleep shirt. Zack quickly pulled out his cure materia, watching as the green light touched her, prodding her face and shoulders before working itself down to the gash. It knitted together, only leaving a bloodstain on her sleeve.

"Thanks," she muttered, rubbing the blood from her arm with her now-ruined shirt. Zack nodded and

stood from his squatting position, holding out a hand toward the woman. She smiled and accepted, letting out a huff once she was back on her feet. "Guess you're going to be spending a lot of time stopping Barret from killing Cait," she said seriously, but the ex-SOLDIER noted that she had very specifically said the word "you" rather than "we."

_Guess she still doesn't like me all that much, _Zack thought.

"I guess so," he replied as Aeris pushed him out of the way to get to Tifa. Without a second thought, Zack turned to where the three others were holding Barret and popped his knuckles.

"Barret," Zack snapped, "you need to calm down—take a breath. Realize that _our hands are tied_."

"Marlene—Dyne—Aeris's mama! You're tellin' me to be _calm_ when their lives are 'n danger? You out of your fuckin' mind!"

Zack looked to Vincent imploringly and watched as Barret took a deep breath before slumping down in the arms of the three holding him.

"What'd you do to him!" Yuffie yelled from her moping spot on the floor, suddenly more alive than Zack thought she could be. "He's right! We should just kill the stupid thing! Traitor!" she spat.

"You're one too, remember?" Cait's animatronic voice whispered. If Zack had known better, he would have thought that Cait was upset by the sudden loss of support from Yuffie.

Yuffie jumped up from the floor and grabbed Cait off the back of Mog, one hand around the robot-cat's throat and the other around his tail. "At least I had a good reason! Now Shinra knows about my family—they're going to do something bad now! You said you were my friend!" Yuffie let go of Cait's throat and held him upside down by the tail.

Mog didn't even try to rescue his top half.

"Let me down! Stop that, Yuffie! You're jostling my cords, you're going to kill me!"

"Good!" she hollered before tossing the cat back at Mog and bouncing him from the pink stomach down to the ground. "At least I did it for a noble cause! You're just a damn Shinra spy, and now you've put everyone I love in danger all over again! I thought you were my friend!" Tears of indignation crawled down her cheeks and Yuffie wiped them away swiftly with the arm of her pajamas.

"Stop this," Cloud finally said, stepping forward and grabbing Yuffie under the arms, swinging her body backwards as she attempted to jump at Cait. "Or do you want us to knock you out like we had to knock out Barret?"

Zack looked over to where Barret was, and sure enough, the man was unconscious. Aeris was holding a green materia, and was holding it before her in threat to Yuffie. "I can do the same to calm you down, Yuffie," Aeris answered the girl's unasked question. "We're all angry," her voice became soft, subtle, "but we have to act like adults. We can't act rationally because I will not have the deaths of my mother, Marlene, and Dyne on my shoulders. Tseng won't hurt them unless we do something stupid to put them in danger. I know him—he's a jerk, but I'd rather he be in charge than someone else... He at least keeps his word."

There were stress lines around her eyes, and along with the crumpled rest of her ensemble made Zack feel like a voyeur- something no one was supposed to see. Aeris was too put-together to be in such a state in front of all of them... even if once, he wanted to be the one to make her nightgown crumple.

"The lady is right," Cait Sith said, pulling his crown back on his forehead, wiping his faux-fur brow. "He'll keep his word as long as you don't go around throwing me into things and breaking me. It isn't as though he can just scramble up a new me, you know!"

Zack bit the inside of his cheek.

"There's nothing we can do." Cloud looked reproachfully at Cait Sith, a bug he wanted to squish under his foot. "We're just going to have to deal with this betrayal and move on. We're going to be three steps behind Shinra no matter what now, since they've got the key that we need. But it's better to be three steps back than a hundred. Aeris?"

Aeris looked to Cloud imploringly.

"You know where we need to go, even without the key, right?"

Aeris nodded. "I—I think so. I can feel it tugging on me, willing me to follow it. It's to the east of here, I think. We can cross a small river in one of the cars to get there. I guess we'll have to rent one out since we left ours in Nibelheim. We don't have time to go back and get it."

"Shinra actually bought us a new car," Cait said. "They... they want us to catch up..."

"Well, isn't that comforting," Zack bit. "They're baiting us like a damn herd of sheep toward the slaughter."

"They don't want to kill us, not immediately," Red spoke up for the first time. His gruff voice was... disconcerting. "They want us to be experiments, like we were before. They're going to make us miserable before they kill us. That's how Shinra operates—the more pain and suffering the more interesting we become. I'm sure they'll even give Hojo his job back just to make us cringe."

Cid spit out his cigarette. "I think ya'll are bein' overdramatic little bitches. Shinra's full o' pricks an' all, but they aren't gunna do too much damage an' I don't think they're gunna jus' kill you if you rattle the stuffing up a little bit."

"You're an idealist. You see the wrong in Shinra, but you don't see how far gone they are. It isn't just about them not letting you fly into space—they do things that would make your skin crawl inside out. They made Sephiroth, after all." Tifa knew better than most how Shinra worked, even if she was never a test subject. Nearly being gutted by one of their war machines does that to people, Zack guessed.

"I just think you're all being over-the top fuckin' dramatic. Shinra's evil, yeah, and this Hojo guy is a piece of shit too, from what I've heard—but the only thing I saw him to to ya'll was locking you up in Rocket Town and letting your asses walk off in Wutai. Looks like they're easier on you than they were on me! One little fuckin' spy and you think they're evil? Or one capture and they're suddenly experimenting on you? You're just trying to piss them off, like a bunch of fleas. That's fine, just don't try makin' it out ta be something more than it is!"

With that, Cid leaned his spear against his shoulder and sauntered out of the room.

* * *

**Please Note that this is Part One of Four. There is a very good reason why this is so much shorter than my usual chapters. You'll understand more once we finish this particular chapter why is is split. **


	83. And the Glass Shatters 2

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilation. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

And the Glass Shatters, Part 2

* * *

"So he's just gone?" Aeris said, her voice quivering. "He just left, like that? Didn't even spare a glance back?"

Zack nodded somberly, scratching the back of his ear. "Yeah. His room is cleared when Barret woke up this morning—he must've taken off last night while we were sleeping."

"That means..." Aeris crossed her arms before dropping them down to her sides, before fidgeting them together in front of her. "I guess there's nothing we can do about Cid. If he's gone, he chose to leave and we can't stop him. I genuinely was wrong about him..." Her head hung low, and the clear disappointment was not something that Zack could cure with a joke or a hug. "I think... I think that it's best if we just pretend like we hadn't seen him. It may do us some good."

Of course, Aeris didn't truly believe that. Zack had known her for far too long to actually believe the woman's words. She would wait and hope that the man would come back, even though he had taken off without a second thought. That was the kind of person she was.

Zack preferred Cloud's way of thinking sometimes. It_ was _better to sometimes just give up on people. There couldn't be hope for everyone, could there?

"We should leave soon, try and catch up with Tseng and the other Turks," Cloud told him a few minutes prior. He had been bus rolling the bottom of his Shinra uniform up into his boots, tugging the tongue of the leather into place. He hadn't even spared a glance at Zack, who had been dressed only a short while. The rest of their comrades were in various states of waking; or at least, those who decided to stay long enough to be considered comrades. "We can't waste the energy to go look for him, and he doesn't want to bother with up in the first place. He can go cause hell for Shinra in his own way and stop giving us headaches."

"I know, I know." And, in truth, Zack did. He understood it, too. But that did not make his gut-clenching feeling of abandonment—more swift then a blade to the soft flesh of stomach—feel any better.

Then again, that was what he deserved for putting his faith in anyone, let alone someone he barely knew. It was hard for him to even trust those he knew well—all the other group members, except for perhaps Aeris and Cloud...

No, that wasn't quite right.

Just Aeris.

The niggling in his head started again.

"Hey, Aeris. I've got something I've got to ask you," Zack started, but Aeris raised her hand up, shaking it in front of his face.

"Don't you dare, Zackary Fair," she admonished. "I can have my own life, too. And anyway, I really don't think it's a good topic to talk about. Even though we're no longer together... This isn't about me, is it?"

"Uh, actually, it's about Cloud."

Aeris's cheeks flamed, and she spluttered a little nonsensical tune that Zack couldn't comprehend. "Never mind that, never mind... What were you saying?"

Under almost any other circumstance, Zack would have goaded Aeris until the woman told her what she was so hesitant to talk about, but... his own selfishness needed to be addressed, and with it, his blindness.

"There's something weird going on with Cloud," Zack said, though his eyes searched the room, despite knowledge that Cloud was no where near. It was as if he were gossiping like an old maid, rather than confiding in one of his closest friends. "I've known for a while that there's something that's just not... he's not always there. Sometimes he'll do or say something that I just don't understand. He'll have an outburst, or his eyes will turn this _green_ and I just... I need to know if I'm just going mad, or if there's someone else who can see it, too."

The light in Aeris's eyes were extinguished, and she contemplated reaching out and hugging him, he knew from the way she reached forward before stopping herself.

"Zack, I need you to remember something, and I need you not to ever forget it." Her voice was a faint whisper, and for any other person their ears would have strained to hear what she wanted to say.

"I won't, Aeris," he told her quite sincerely. And he was-the look in her eyes—he never saw it before.

This time, Aeris did not hold back, and allowed herself to gently grasp Zack's bicep. "You're going to need to be strong, when it happens. Cloud... I think there's something wrong with him, too. No, I know there's something going on with him. But, you're going to need to be there for him, because he doesn't know what's going on any more than you or I do. He's scared, he's confused, and I think whatever is wrong with him has something to do with Sephiroth."

"But how could you know that? Has he come and talked to you about it?"

Aeris shook her head, and rubbed her finger in soothing circles against Zack's arm. "I... I've been having bad dreams. He's always there, with Sephiroth. But there's something very wrong with him, like he is only part of a whole."

"Have you told anyone else about this?"

Zack saw Aeris begin to nod her head no, but then stopped almost abruptly. "I told Vincent, last night..."

Zack's throat constricted.

"You told... Valentine?" Zack pulled his arm away from her touch, as if her fingers were barbed.

"He already knew... he's known for a while. Probably longer than he's been with our group that there was something wrong with Cloud." Aeris muttered and tried to reach out again, only to have her hand all but smacked away.

"Doesn't matter if he already knew or not. This entire mess is because he had a hard-on for Sephiroth's mother and couldn't tell her no! He let some crazy bitch experiment on her unborn child and her sibling—Cloud's mom. Her eyes were so haunted, Aeris. And he, he," Zack spluttered incoherently, "he just _let _it happen! Did you ever think for a single minute what the Planet would look like if her just grew a pair when he saw his precious Lucrecia fucking around with things she had no right to touch!"

"Cloud's mom wasn't Vincent's fault... he hadn't even met her yet," Aeris said, her soothing words only agitating Zack further. "Sephiroth, yes... but he tried to stop them, near the end. That's why he became Hojo's experiment..."

"He obviously didn't fucking succeed very well, now did he?" Zack bit.

Aeris turned her eyes downcast. "No, he didn't. But we're only human, Zack... we've all been blinded by love, or obsession, or hatred. We're only human, and he's no exception."

_He's about as human as his precious bitch of a scientist. If only you knew how **wrong **that assumption is, Aeris. _

"Maybe I should only trust Cloud. At least he doesn't purposely keep things hidden—he just as confused as all of us."

With that, Zack left the room, slamming the door on the way out.

* * *

The drive was just a drive—even Yuffie, who required constant new vomit bags to be placed at her feet during the trip, did not act remotely entertaining. She didn't flip on the radio, or puke on one of the other people, or even attempt to play a game of cards.

The car was more like a graveyard than a vehicle.

The only time anyone spoke was the few times Tifa told Zack to pull over so Yuffie could feel the ground under her feet, and the one time Aeris required the use of a bathroom for a few minutes. Otherwise, the trip was met with blunt, almost painful silence.

Zack pushed his foot against the brake pedal, looking in the mirror to see the long dirt road that he had traveled down. Comforted that no one followed them (though, all in all, he wasn't really expecting that Cid would hot-wire a car just to join up with a group of people he seemed to loathe) he slowed the car to a stop, turned the ignition off, and unbuckled his seat.

"It's about an hour walk from here. Too many trees to drive."

The others tumbled out of the car, and Zack asked Cait, "Are the others here yet?"

"I... I think so. They've been quiet for some time—" the voice was not Cait, but of the mysterious man behind the machinery. "I think something may have gone quite wrong."

It felt like his ribs curled into his stomach. "How wrong?"

"The last transmission was about thirty minutes ago, and was a whisper. I've been trying to decipher what it was, but..." The tapping of someone typing on a keypad sizzled through Cait's speakers. "It's just not coming out with any answer, and I'm very good at computers..."

"Let's just get this thing done with, worry about your people later, because Shiva knows I won't."

It was a sharp bite, one that Zack would have otherwise never have taken. However, hard times were on his doorstep, and the idea of helping out Shinra with purpose turned Zack's stomach. His skewed morals be damned—Shinra was a thousand times worse.

"Who was the last person who transmitted?"

Aeris stuck her head into the car, scanning over the two still waiting, almost patiently, in their seats. "You guys going to come, or will we be leaving you behind?"

Zack slid his fingers against the warm belt around him, and pressed his thumb into the catch. "We're coming."

"Zack," the automated cat said, but Zack ignored the machine, pushing the door open with too much force and slamming it hard enough to shake the vehicle.

"If you're coming with us, get out now before I lock you in the car and let the sun roast you."

* * *

Blood.

There was blood dripping down the stairs into the anti-chamber of the Temple, bubbling red, oozing like an infected sore from wherever the source began. At first, Zack thought it to be a wounded animal, perhaps a sacrifice to the keeper of the temple to allow them to use the key. Maybe it was an accident—it was impossible to tell with the darkness of the temple looming over them.

But the smell was abhorrent.

The entire place reeked of death, a grim reaper watching over the establishment, waiting for the wrong step. The battered drawbridge sung to Zack, each step toward the hovering monstrosity before him a warning to turn around, to run back through the woods and to somewhere safe. Nothing good could come of it.

The blood trickled down the stairs in a drizzle, Zack noticed—whatever was bleeding above was not quite dead. The hot sun above was drying it quickly, but not quickly enough to make the blood congeal before making a mess, or more accurately, a trail.

There were bootprints in the blood.

Aeris dropped to her knees, halfway across the bridge, leaning her cheek against the rotting wood. Her hands trembled and her back seemed to bend forward with the weight of invisible bricks. "I can hear it. I can hear their voices, so loud. Their will, the will of so many floating, falling. Blood on the ground, the key opened the door, and... " Zack did not catch the last words of her sentence, because they could not have been in Continental, or any other language freely spoken on Gaia... how many languages could call in wind, and fog?

"Aeris?" Red said, letting his paw gently touch the back of her boot. "Can you hear me?"

Zack watched with uncertainty as the woman turned to the red-furred beast, and without a word pulled herself off her knees and ran forward, her face filled with terror.

She was almost fog herself.

The others ran forward, a few steps behind one another and much slower than Aeris could. The woman seemed to have wings attached to her feet, because even the blood (which the others had to avoid slipping in) did not stop her assent. Even when something of darkness and death tumbled out of the temple entrance and down half the stairs, she did not take notice of the creature numbly reaching out to touch her skirt.

Zack remembered Nibelheim, and so did Barret apparently, because before they were level with the beast, Barret already aimed his gunarm toward the thing and shot several rounds into it.

Seeing the pale hand fall from the inside of the cloak made Zack choke the bile down, but he did not stop.

Especially when Aeris's hoarse, broken cry echoed from ahead.

Zack slid in the blood, nearly falling down the stairs, grabbed at the last minute by Tifa, who was just ahead of him. She said something, but Zack did not catch it, because his sight was filled with blood, and of Aeris holding the head of a bleeding, dying, man.

"Shit," Zack said as Aeris cried another, "Tseng!"

Zack remembered the first time he truly met Tseng as someone on almost equal footing—a trip to Banora to find Genesis and, hopefully, Angeal. It had ended so terribly, but Tseng—he had gained something that day, a trust and a bond that only brothers-in-arms could have. It did not matter that the man was ruthless, that he had the blood of many on his hands—because Zack always knew that. It was his job, despicable as it was, but he was better than good at it; he was the best.

And despite all the blood on his hands, Zack knew that he had just as much, if not more, on his own.

"Tseng," Aeris whispered, holding his head against her breast and one hand against the gaping wound across his stomach. She somehow managed to pull the man like a broken doll halfway into her lap, which at any other time Zack would have laughed and thought funny. But the blood on Tseng now, it was too great, and his eyes were losing life. "It'll be okay, Tseng."

Blood gurgled up his throat as the Turk attempted to laugh. "No, it's not," he finally wheezed. "I think... I'm done."

"Don't be silly," Aeris said as she pulled her hand against the wound, wiping a her other against Tseng's face. It left a bloody streak down his pale, ghostly white skin. "You're going to be just fine."

Tseng leaned away from the girl's touch to cough up rubies of blood. "Not this time." He almost seemed to smile. "Do you.. remember when I first saw you, and you gave me," Tseng stopped, and took a deep breath. Something seemed to die in his eyes. "Sephiroth is inside. He's... it's not what you think it is... nothing is what you think it is."

"Sephiroth?" Aeris said, but rather than elaborate, tears sparked in her eyes. "I remember, you know..."

"I know."

"It was a pink one... A pink rose. You didn't want to take it, but I insisted."

Zack felt like he was hearing too much, things which were not for his ears.

"Letting you go was the start of my bad luck," the Turk whispered, but to any other it would have sounded of a curse. But to Tseng, it was... endearment. "Should have... have known that you'd end up killing me in the end."

"You're the one who stuck with Shinra," Aeris bit back, but the tears in her eyes and the softness in her voice betrayed her. "You knew that I'd never go willingly."

"...pretty harsh. Sounds like something... you'd say."

Aeris almost laughed, but the sound caught in her throat. "Don't talk to me like this is it, because it isn't. Just stay still—we'll reminisce some other time, I promise. I... I'll get you more pink roses. Just stay for a little longer, please."

It was then that her fingers curled with green magic. Tendrils reached forward to lick Tseng's wounds, Aeris's tears mixing with the pale green glow of her power. It would help, but it would not completely heal.

"So... so much to say." Tseng's eyes were glassy, and were blinking so very slowly. "Tried my... hardest. Duty... for you."

"I know, I know, you don't have to say anything at all."

Within a few minutes of soft lulling, Aeris finally looked away from the face of the Turk, toward Vincent. "You have to take him. He's not ready to go, not yet." She cradled Tseng's face in one palm and leaned forward to place a kiss against the tilak in the middle of his forehead. "Please. Take him somewhere safe."

For such a brutal man, Tseng looked very small in Vincent's arms. The former Turk did as Aeris requested, and with one last look, Vincent turned and descended down the stairs.

* * *

I don't even want to talk about how many tears I shed just writing the chapter. I've always had a soft spot for Tseng. And yes, I've hinted very strongly through the entire story that his feelings for Aeris weren't platonic, but then again, canon suggested the same. Anyway...

**Please Review!**


	84. And the Glass Shatters 3

Author Notes: I think you're going to be happy I didn't rush the writing of this chapter. Seriously. Though, from the review with the word "UPDATE" over 1000 times, I imagine someone wants me to update. Just sayin'. Also, this clocks as the longest chapter I've ever written for this story. Woot?

NOTE: To those who have seen this chapter coming up and down, I swear it isn't my intention to keep ganking it. There's something wrong with FFn's servers, and they keep EATING this chapter.

**Warning: This chapter contains sexually explicit material which may offend minors. Where it begins will be marked appropriately if you so desire to ignore it.**

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

The keystone lay almost innocently on the blood-covered dais. The golden glow now radiated from the center, activating the temple and as far as Zack was concerned, also made it so much more... He felt a stone drop into his stomach, or maybe a thousand stones. Even shining with beautiful colors, a placid water with golden mist, it was a harbinger of something Zack did not want to see, did not want to know.

It was a death stone.

"Cloud?" Aeris asked, wiping the blood onto her dress, staring down with blank eyes, "put the stone in the dais." Her face was haunted by the shadows of the torches along the walls and pillars.

Zack looked to Cloud, who eyed the keystone. "You sure you want me to do it," he asked.

She mouthed yes, but the words caught in her throat, and she scrubbed her hands harsher against the fabric. "Why won't it come off!" she half-yelled before finally giving up and wiping her still bloody hand across her brow.

No one told her that Tseng's blood dripped down her cheek like tears.

"Hey, none of that," Tifa said, pushing forward from the others. She reached out a hand to Aeris, leaning down into a crouch. "I've got some clean clothes in my pack... we'll find some water and get it off, all right?" A smile tugged at the corner of her lip, though there was strain on her brow.

Zack wanted to say something of a comfort, but he knew Aeris better than that- actions were more of a comfort to her now then any word could possibly be.

"I need out," Yuffie said, holding her nose. "I'm gunna die if you keep me in here!"

"No one's going to stop you," Cloud pointed out, "we seem to have people dropping like flies; I doubt we'd even notice you were gone as long as you left our materia in peace." Cloud's voice was dead (_like that stone, _Zack thought with a hint of chill down his spine) and he gestured backward without so much as a glance. "I guess you better beat it."

Yuffie sniffed, her gray eyes searching Cloud's face for indecision, before looking at the others and held out her arms in a placating surrender. "Fine, I get you, I get _it._ I'll jus' go over, and, uh sit over here where there isn't, you know..." She stepped with quite a bit of care after that, heading toward the opening, where at least there was clean air.

"Don't get too close to what's under that cloak," Zack told her, the weight of his words settling in the air. "It may not be as dead as we'd like." The ziggurat was a dangerous place, and who really knew exactly what would pop out at them?

From her gulp, Zack was sure she wouldn't be wandering too far.

"Cloud, are you going to do it or not?" Aeris's voices was sharper than barbed wire. Despite the blood on the floor, walls and Aeris herself, reminding Zack of horror stories of ritual sacrifice, she was determined. Her hands still clung to the bottom of her dress, running the tattered and bloody material through her fingers.

"I'm not sure about this," Tifa said, trailing behind Aeris. "Are we really ready to see Sephiroth? Ready to fight him?"

"Of course we are," Cloud snapped.

"While we're missing Vincent?"

Zack thought for a moment, but before he could respond Aeris did so, walking forward and plucking the key from Cloud's fingers. "I think I should do it," she responded shortly before pushing forward. There was a determination in her voice Zack hadn't heard in a while, probably since Rocket Town.

"She's righ'."

"And I concur; we should finish this now before Sephiroth has any chance to kill anyone else."

This could very well be the end of this entire fight against Sephiroth. Zack wanted to look over to Cloud and tell him "Things are going to be okay soon. Just a little longer, and we'll be free." but he couldn't do it, not yet. Not until they really stood before Sephiroth's corpse, watching with mute and antipathetic expressions. Despite what others would think, Zack wouldn't dance on Sephiroth's grave. He was still, in some ways, the man that Zack knew who cared about the men who were his subordinates, who was cold but strangely warm. His idol, Cloud's idol.

Pondering on it wouldn't change anything, and Sephiroth was about as much of the man he once was as Cloud was the child he remembered hiding his face from his town.

"How should we do this?" Zack asked.

Aeris turned her head to the side, glancing at Zack through her dark lashes. "We can't figure out anything until I put this in." Her hand was trembling, though it was so faint that he only noticed it when the key rattled against one of her bracelets. "We'll go from there."

"What if you put that in and Sephiroth pops out like a ghost?"

Aeris shook her head. "The Planet's not saying anything about it; I think Sephiroth isn't going to play any dirty tricks like that. He wants us to see him, and he wants us to see whatever's here."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Aeris mouth puckered. "No need to be snappy." Her head turned back around to stare back at the dais, and she dropped the keystone and all its blood-covered glory into the lock.

The stones themselves seemed to screech against the intrusion of the key, making most of the team grab their ears to protect themselves from the awful sound. Zack wildly grabbed at his head, knees nearly buckling under his weight; Cloud was already on the ground along with Yuffie who had fallen backward as the arched doorway seemed to tunnel in. Rock, dust, and dirt was their cloying enemy, making the entire room opaque as it shook.

What was up? Down? Left and right were intangible from one another, and as the foundation quaked below his feet, Zack wondered if they would all simply die. The light winked out as the torches were doused with dust ad dirt, plunging them into the darkness. Someone screamed, another hollered, and there was a whimper almost so quiet that it couldn't be detected.

Zack could see more than the others, and finding Cloud (who had let out that little whimper that sent a cold shock through his gut) was easy. Zack grabbed him under his armpits and slid down to the floor to avoid what was the outline of a chunk of falling rock.

"Shh," Zack whispered into Cloud's hair, feeling the soft locks tickle his nose, "we're all fine."

"I nearly got brained by a rock," Cloud had to almost yell over the sound of screeching and tumbling stones.

Zack could have laughed.

There was a crack of light that permeated through what was once the front entrance, and the room stopped shaking. The dust settled as the sound of silence met their ears; it was deafening. Zack let go of Cloud, and took his hand when offered the help to standing up.

"I don't want to know what's out there," Barret was the first to speak, and his words were effectively what everyone in the room really did believe; well, almost all. Aeris, who had been hurled over the stone dais during their plummet downward, her fingers clutching the sides, scraping into the flesh to prevent her from falling.

"Is everyone okay?"

Zack looked around the room. Yuffie was cradling her left arm to her stomach, whimpering in the corner away from the others. Her arm looked twisted, if not broken. There were no bones protruding out, but that did not mean that she was without damage. Her face was also cut up, and she had a busted lip. Barret seemed to be fine, and was helping Tifa (who was sporting a bloody nose) move a few rocks off of Red, who was licking his front paw.

"Where's Cait?" Cloud asked, looking around the room for the little monster.

"Cait? Cait!" Zack yelled, though not so much in worry for the animated cat but for what the person running him would think if it went offline.

"Marlene," Barret choked, and abandoned his help moving rocks from Red, who barely had the time to move his tail away from the steam-rolling man's feet, as he began hoisting rocks off the ground, searching anywhere and everywhere he could think for the little shit. "Gotta find 'im," he said as he unceremoniously dumped a handful of rocks across a pool of blood that splashed back up at him, covering his boots and hem in brown.

Then, like a beautiful hymn, there was a crackling from the other side of the room and the man who controlled Cait spoke through the crackling intercom. "Over here," he said, and Tifa (who was closest to the area) darted forward and began to move the rocks. Zack looked at the animatronic cat for any wires protruding out, but the only damage he could really see were the holes in his cape and his gnarled crown, which was simply no longer wearable.

"Good thing I told Mog to stay in the car, eh?" The cat laughed, though it sounded distinctly fuzzy. This seemed to make the cat confused, and he pat his chest and arms, holding his paws out to look at more closely. He muttered something that sounded like techspeak. "No matter, looks like my innards should be all right for a little while longer." Even as he said it, there was strain in his mechanical voice, though he snapped his tail twice on the rubble for good measure.

"And everyone else?" Zack heard from behind him. He turned to see Aeris removing her mother's materia from her hair and sink to the ground, closing her eyes in prayer. The room seemed to glow for a moment, and what looked to be sparkling dust (though it could have been a trick of the light) trickled down from the ceiling. The major wounds on the others seemed to heal with a gentle nudge of shining, yellow light.

"There," she said as she opened her eyes. She smiled before shakily getting to her feet, wiping a smudge of browning blood away with the back of her dirty hand. "Your arm okay now, Yuffie?"

The girl shook her head from side to side. "It's really sore—feel like I had my arm smashed to a pulp." She continued to hold her arm close to her body, though her face was no longer white with pinched cheeks.

"How about you, Red?"

Red looked up at them through his one good eye as if to convey 'how do you really _think_ I'm doing?' before continuing to bathe the spot (though it did not seem to be bleeding any longer) with his wet, pink tongue.

"I think we should split up into two groups, at least for a little while," Aeris said as she pulled at her braid, tying the white materia back into her braid. "We can keep some of us here until the rest of us scout out what's out there... make sure it's safe."

"I'll stay," Tifa said almost immediately as she bent down to ruffle Red's mane. Red tried to shoo her hand away, but only after a moment he gave up and flopped down on his belly, allowing her to continue brushing. "I've got a Restore, so I should be able to take care of everyone here. It's best if you went, Aeris. You're connected to this place; you'll know what to do."

"And Zack and I'll go with her," Cloud said, and patted his pockets for something. "Barret, can you hold on to this for me? I think it'd be best if you stayed here with Tifa and held the fort down until we get back. Use it if you need to; she won't argue much." Cloud took a few steps forward in the small room and handed over a summons (probably Shiva, from the way Cloud spoke of it) twined in leather straps to Barret, who dutifully accepted.

Zack felt for his own materia, though he did not have anything that the others wouldn't already have in their own arsenal. He felt a prick of something in his pocket and ran his finger over it, feeling the slight tug on his skin, a comfort that he had picked up as a child in the jungle. There was always a little trinket (usually from his mother) hidden somewhere on his person.

"Have your sword, Cloud?" Zack didn't see it on Cloud's back.

Cloud reached his right arm around, patting his back, once, twice, and then the frantic grabbing started with both hands. "Oh fuck, where is it?" The look in Cloud' blue eyes were beginning to morph into stricken fear and blind panic. He turned in the antechamber repeatedly, searching for it. "Was it on my back when you caught me?" Cloud asked Zack (_and Zack pretended not to see the glare Tifa sent his way.) _

He thought back, but he could not remember feeling the sword against his body. "Sorry," Zack responded, running a hand anxiously through his hair. "I can't say it was."

"Damn it."

"It's okay, it's got to be here somewhere," Zack said slowly, and felt his stomach shrivel up. "Oh."

"Exactly."

Yuffie whimpered out, "I think I see something sticking out of the rocks over here." Cloud darted toward her little area and began digging through the rubble, only to stop within moments with a sound of despair. "Oh, that's not good..."

It was there, broken and twisted in the rocks and dirt. The once shining metal of Orios was cracked and broken, shattered like glass. "No," Cloud said as he fell to his knees, gentle extracting the once beautiful sword, cradling it in his hands. "Oh, no."

"I'm sorry, Cloud," Zack said, hand wavering for a moment before finally resting it on his shoulder, gently massaging Cloud's collar.

Cloud took in a deep breath through his nose before letting the pieces drop from his hands, clanking on the ground. "No matter," he said, "let's just go. Aeris?"

Aeris nodded her head, though she certainly did not look comfortable with the idea of Cloud being without his sword. "I"m sure we'll find something else for you to use," Aeris said. "There are many things here that I think you could use as a weapon."

Cloud didn't respond to her, instead kicking the metal hand-grip across the chamber.

"Then we should just go, then."

* * *

When they left the room, all around them were hundreds of staircases, curving and curling around several central towers. The staircases went up, down, left and right, some even going backward or leading to the same destination. Around and around, the mossy stairs connected to everything and nothing all underneath the false sky.

"There's no way we're outside."

Aeris took a step forward before putting her hand above her eyes, looking up. A wind brushed against her hair as it blew around, and Zack looked around again. Could they not be in the building?

"I think we are, Cloud," Aeris said. "There's wind and natural light. I don't know how, but it is."

Cloud wrapped his materia in his hands and pulled at a dagger in his pocket. "The temple's a ziggurat and we were at the top of it. There wasn't anything above us, or on the other side."

Zack had to agree with Cloud. When they walked around the temple of the Ancients, there were no hidden backyard with towering rocks and twisted stairways. There were only vast, unending trees, the entirety peppered with little animals and creatures unnatural to the region. There were no open courts.

"But look," Aeris said as she pointed to the sky, "That's... that's a sun, but look, there's another!"

Two suns glittered in the afternoon sky, and two moons seemed to crest the horizon, already making their way into the sky, ready for night. It was beautiful, the curling colors of the two suns battling with one another for dominance of the sky.

"This can't be real," Cloud said, and Zack could only agree. Were they dreaming? Had they perhaps hit their heads on the rocks from before, and were now only seeing doubles before them?

"It is," Aeris replied as she leaned down, resting her knuckles against the greenery. "I don't think we're on Gaia... or, atleast, not being _projected_ to be on Gaia." Se folded her hands in front of her, and closed her eyes. "Let me listen..."

Zack could not look away from the beautiful view, and almost turned around to call to the others in the group to come see how magnificent the skyline was. But, he stopped himself—what if it was a trick that Sephiroth was playing on them, pulling the wool over their eyes? It could end in a complete and utter disaster, and even lead in the deaths of his friends.

Aeris dropped to her knees, her stained dress fluttering in a breeze that could not truly exist. She placed her ear against the ground, her cheek resting against the mossy stones below their feet. Neither Cloud not Zack spoke as the hum of the Planet itself whispered in their ears.

Zack couldn't say what was said; maybe it was the wind or the air, but at that moment a gust of wind howled by their ears, a mist appeared before them, and a small figure in a long, purple hood melted into existence. It stood still for only a moment, long enough for Zack to see a pair of green eyes staring at him from within the cloak, before tuning. Its cloak touched Aeris, making her shiver, before heading off toward the twisting staircases. Aeris slumped down on the floor.

"Follow him!" Zack yelled to Cloud as he went to grab Aeris before she fell over. Cloud did as instructed, following at a brisk pace before the thing disappeared from sight completely. "And keep your damn phone on!"

* * *

"Zack?"

Zack looked down from where he was staring at the ceiling at Aeris, who was finally, after three hours of unconsciousness, gracing the world with their presence. "Good to see you in the land of the living, Sleeping Beauty," the black-haired man joked as he ruffled his bangs. "You've been out for a while."

"Where am I?"

The room was flushed with brownish-gold light, only accenting the dark cave walls where pictures were drawn onto the surface in bright colors. There were blankets and furs across the dirt floor, and small figurines that lined the mats on the ground. The temple guard, or whatever it was that was supposed to care for the temple and its grounds, allowed them to stay in his little corner of the room cut off with one singular wall from the main room. And, from its mumblings, Zack caught the word "Sephiroth." It would have been the blood drenching the floors in the main room that would have clued him in that Sephiroth had been there a few hours previous, running his sword through Tseng's unguarded belly.

Zack didn't like that there was only one wall between him and where Sephiroth wounded Tseng, but in the same feeling he knew that it was close to almost being over. Sephiroth would be dead tomorrow, if Zack had any say in it.

"You're in one of the small bedrooms in the middle of the temple. We followed the temple guard in, and it, I don't know how to explain it, but he _showed_that you would wake up in a few hours. I saw it in my head, through his hands. He can't really talk," Zack explained, pointing toward the figure in the corner of the room, holding its knees to its body as it rocked back and forth, "but it keeps making sounds that I think means Sephiroth."

Wiping at her cheeks, Aeris pulled on her skin. "What happened?"

"You passed out," Zack told her. "We went back and got the others after you passed out, and we followed Cloud and the guard through the maze. This is their home, I think. In the room over there's a lot of blood..."

"Tseng."

He nodded. "Vincent hasn't come back yet... I think that's a good thing."

"It means he hasn't been given a reason to turn around and come back," Aeris wiped at her eyes. "Who cleaned me up?"

"Yuffie did," Zack said. "Tifa's been trying to clean up some of the rooms so we have a place to stay for the night. Some of us wanted to keep going—"

"Cloud?"

"And whoever's controlling Cait." Zack pulled at the bottom of his chair to get closer to Aeris's bundled body. "But we need to be together for this. We can't lose anyone else."

Aeris crossed her arms in front of her and the blankets pooled around her shoulders. She pulled in her lips tightly, the skin around her mouth turning white. Her cheeks were hollow, and the youthfulness that she once had was almost gone. "It's coming, Zack." Her shoulders shook as she spoke, and wrapped her arms around herself tighter. "I keep seeing it, shining like glass in my face. It's bright there... I think it'll be a beautiful place to see." She was unable to hold in the sob, and it echoed in the room.

"I think I want to be left alone."

Zack nodded and stood up from the chair, the legs scrapping against the ground, pulling up loose dirt. "Want me to ask him to go?" Zack motioned to the hooded guard, who was staring through the purple hood. Green eyes, like Aeris's, peered into his soul.

She choked out a 'no', covered her face with her hands and wept.

No longer welcome, Zack headed out.

* * *

**There were enough rooms for everyone to have their own,** but Cloud still ended up in Zack's room, cuddled in his blankets, his shirt thrown piled on the floor near the edge of the soft mats and furs.

"Zack, do you think they'll hear?" Cloud whispered, as if the rest of the team could divulge exactly what was being said at that moment through the wooden doors and rock walls.

"There's your room between them, and the rock is really thick," Zack said as he kissed Cloud's pale skin, breathing across the plains of his slightly-muscled chest. His mouth darted down, licking and biting the soft, scarred flesh. Cloud laughed loudly, and bit his lip to stifle the sound. The black-haired man's hair tickled Cloud's chest and when he choked back another laugh, Zack cracked a smile and grabbed a lock of his hair. "I don't think they'll hear." He swished the lock across the blond's chest, drawing patterns like a painter on fresh canvas.

The man below him gave out a low moan in agreement. "Then... do you want to do this?" Cloud asked, struggling to get onto his elbows. His stomach sloped down and his Adam's Apple bobbed as he swallowed. "Are you sure you want me?"

Zack could have laughed at Cloud, yet he held it in and instead let his hair fall back and his palms rest on the soft furs on both sides of Cloud's thighs. Years of hating himself, the people around him despising him for being the child of a woman without a man, the hands of Shinra drowning him in mako and laughing as he suffered... Cloud had a pile of issues that could topple Midgar over two or three times. No wonder he had problems believing that Zack actually cared.

"Of course I do." Zack leaned forward, letting his chest slowly slide against Cloud's as he leaned forward and kissed his throat. "I just need to make sure that this is okay with _you_."

"We could die tomorrow. Sephiroth could kill you, kill me, kill all of us. Tonight may be our last chance to ever be together."

Zack sighed and leaned away. "That didn't answer my question." He wouldn't take Cloud's virginity just because tomorrow they were going to go after Sephiroth. "This isn't something you can get back tomorrow once we kill Sephiroth and don't die. Trust me, I'm all for making love to you," Zack ran his fingers against Cloud's lips as he tried to interrupt, "but I just don't want you doing this just because of a possibility of there not being a tomorrow."

"You know, I would have done this that night in the Gold Saucer, if everything hadn't gone to shit. The first time you kissed me I knew that I wanted to do this. But please don't look at me as some kind of virgin that needs to be coddled. Just think of me as Cloud." He smiled then, his bright blue eyes deep, unending oceans of thought and desires. "This has nothing to do with Sephiroth or dying, but now that you mention it, maybe I should go grab myself one of the girls—get in all those sexual experiences before I croak. Don't you think it's a good idea? Maybe even some of those weird kinks I heard about in the barracks."

"Don't even joke like that!" Zack wrapped his arms around Cloud and yanked him down into the blankets as the both of them laughed loudly, hysterically.

"Heh, heh, you know I'm only playing." Cloud was on his side, head buried in the others chest. "Though, I do still wonder if loving you makes me the quintessential gay boy they always pegged me as."

Running his fingers though soft blond spikes, Zack pulled Cloud close and put a rough kiss on his lips. "Nah. There's nothing typical about you, Cloudy."

"You haven't called me that in a while."

"Didn't think you wanted me to." Zack wiped some moisture from Cloud's lip and ran a hand down his cheek and over his chin. His fingers played with the small dimples around his mouth. "It's a kiddy name."

"It was _my _name, though," Cloud corrected. "It's a pet name, sure, but I like it. Not when you call me in a million times in a row and try to convince me that I'm some two year old still swaddled in diapers—"

To quiet him, Zack pulled Cloud's lips together between his thumb and forefinger. There wasn't a need for words for this. Instead, Zack leaned toward his _soon-to-be lover_ and pattered kisses across the peach skin of his cheeks, his pink lips, all the way to his hairline. He even made sure to kiss the strawberry birthmark on Cloud's scalp, making the blond shiver and melt.

Hands. Cloud's hands on him, his on Cloud. It was like a million dreams he had since he understood what sex and love was... since he realized what he wanted to do with the gorgeous man next to him. How he managed to cut off his brain for long enough to function around him was an amazing feat. Beautiful really didn't even begin to cover it.

"Just say what you want, Cloud; please just tell me what you want."

Cloud moaned under Zack's ministration, his eyelids fighting to stay up. Zack just wanted to stare into blue eyes for as long as he could.

"I want you." The boyish man slid his hands down against Zack's stomach, the pads of his thumbs rubbing against the needle-mark scars across his tanned flesh. Gestures of love—no one could like the feel of scars against their fingertips unless they were intimate. They moved up from the bumps on his chest up to his face, where Cloud rand the pads of two of his fingers across the cross scar on his chin.

Zack put his hand over Cloud's hand, resting his cheek. "Okay."

Their movements were of those of two lovers well acquainted with each other, despite this being the first time their bodies came together in such a way. The only reason he could think that they felt so comfortable with one another, even with Cloud being a virgin, was (as cheesy as it sounded) because their bodies instinctively knew they were just supposed to_ click_. Zack had lovers, more than he wanted to admit to, but he never felt the connection with anyone other than Cloud. His Cloud.

It felt so nice to be able to claim that.

"You've got no idea what you do to me, Cloudy." Zack pulled away from Cloud and got to his knees, pulling Cloud up with him. He leaned in to smell Cloud's hair as his hands busied themselves with reaching into the blond's waistband. The boxers slid down the curves of his ass and hips, and Zack nearly came himself when Cloud's cock sprung free from its confines and rubbed against his stomach. Looking down, he had to admit that Cloud's cock fit him well; from what it lacked in length it certainly made up in girth, the circumcised tip rubbing a splatter of pre-cum across Zack's underwear.

A wicked smirk crossed Cloud's mouth, and Zack knew that by the end of the night he would be swallowing his own words. More likely than not he knew exactly what he was doing, and from his wandering hand, there was almost no doubt.

Desire whirled in Zack's stomach and he quickly maneuvered himself out of his constraining boxers, wiggling them off his foot and into the blankets. There was lubrication next to the bed, courtesy of Cloud being prepared for what would happen that night before Zack even got back from bathing. There were no doubts in Zack's mind that Cloud knew what was coming next.

"What position do you want me in?" Cloud's words were husky and wet with need.

Zack let go of Cloud for long enough to grab the bottle and poured some of the slightly chilled liquid into the palm of his hand. "It's up to you, babe."

Cloud nodded, but rather than getting on his back, as Zack had done his first time, he crawled in front of Zack, knees and elbows braced on the blankets. "I've touched myself a few times this way," he explained, face flushed pink with embarrassment, "it's more comfortable..."

The thought of Cloud doing this to himself, running one hand over his body, down to his sac and the base of his cock while the other slowly stretched him open was almost enough to send him over. With Cloud, he was almost in constant proximity to losing all control. He had to bite the inside of his cheeks to prevent himself from orgasming prematurely.

_Don't fuck this up, don't fuck this up_, Zack chastised himself as he rubbed the fluid between his fingers, warming it so that it wouldn't be too uncomfortable for Cloud's body. Keenly, he remembered his first time: The saliva between his legs; the pain and discomfort as Reno pushed inside of him; the rubbing of the carpet against his back, his cock between their bodies. It wasn't a bad experience, but not what he wanted this first time to be like. This was going to be a lot smoother, less rushed and panicked. This was the first time Cloud ever experienced something like this, and he just did not want to ruin it.

Zack finally gained the courage to touch Cloud, running one of his fingers gently down from the small of his back to near his entrance, letting his nail drag. He didn't press his fingers inside, but instead rubbed against the wrinkled, puckered flesh. Cloud shivered and let out a moan, back arching. The sparse hair that dotted his back seemed to stand up as goosebumps appeared down all the way to where his knees bent across one of the rich burgundy blankets.

Zack teased Cloud's hole, his other hand reaching around to take hold of Cloud's cock, the thick organ twitching in anticipation. Not wanting to rush the virgin, Zack made sure when his middle finger slipped into the blond that he gave an enthusiastic tug to Cloud's organ, pushing pleasure to the forefront of his mind rather than the potential discomfort of having fingers not his own enter into him.

Cloud was tight, but was much more relaxed than Zack was his first time. This comforted him because he didn't want that kind of pain to be experienced again, even if it wasn't through his body. No harm, only comfort and pleasure. It had been years since he had touched another man like this, or another person for that matter, and he wanted to make it last for as long as the two of them could last.

Cloud mewled when Zack pushed in another digit, his hands clutching the blankets so tightly there was the sound of ripping material. Both of them were unnaturally strong, and in that moment it could not be more pronounced. But their strength could balance one another out and Zack wasn't afraid of what he could possibly do to Cloud. That, in and of itself, was a comfort no other lover could give him after he became a SOLDIER. It only made him appreciate that he ended up falling in love with Cloud.

The blond bucked back when Zack inserted a third finger and felt his prostate against them. He didn't have to go very far into Cloud's body—three or four inches in, and from what he could tell, it was extremely sensitive. This would be a good thing for Zack: Knowing where it was would make sex very much more enjoyable,. He pulled out his three fingers and pushed back in, again rubbing the spot. He had heard of guys being able to come from prostate stimulation alone, and he promised himself that one day when they had more time and privacy, he would fully explore that avenue.

Cloud's toes curled and he couldn't contain a guttural, damn near animalistic moan that seemed to reverberate through the room and bounce off the walls. Just as quickly, Cloud's muscles clamped around his fingers and buried his face into the blankets. Zack let go of his cock, not wanting to make the experience happen too fast.

"Didn't even think I'd be a screamer," he panted when he lifted his head from the blankets, resting his cheek on one of the tasseled pillows. "I'll have to be quiet."

Zack didn't want to agree, but if they were really too loud someone would probably want to investigate to make sure that Sephiroth wasn't killing them.

"Just don't be too, too loud." Zack's voice had more than a hint of a joke. Cloud smiled and tilted his head in agreement.

Zack let Cloud take in a few more gulping breaths before meeting his bright blue eyes, and Zack imagined for a second that he saw acid-green rimming Cloud's pupils. But, the moment he concentrated long enough on Cloud's eyes he noted that it must have been a flicker of the lights in the room.

He didn't remove his fingers from Cloud quite yet, but leaned down so his nose and hand lined up. Slowly, he pulled out his fingers and replaced it with his tongue. Lapping at the soft flesh, warm and well-lubricated, was a little awkward for the both of them. Cloud even came close to asking him to stop; Zack could hear the words almost on his tongue, but he pulled out his tongue and peppered kisses on and around the stretched hole. It seemed to strangle whatever the blond planned on saying as he continued with his devilish tongue, licking around his entrance, again and again dipping in and out. Cloud buried his face again, letting out a sob.

"You're teasing me!" There was a note of anguish in his voice, and Zack smiled as he pulled out his tongue, gently kissing up his back as he leaned over Cloud, finally reaching his neck, then his mouth.

It was a slippery kiss, with tongue and teeth and all the frustration between the two that could be expressed in movement. Zack's cock rubbed against Cloud's opening, and both moaned loudly with each touch. There was a fire in their bellies and there was nothing more Zack wanted to do than than let go of all his inhibitions.

"Please, Zack, for Holy-sake, please," Cloud begged, his breath on the black-haired man's lips. He ran a hand over Zack's face. Who was he to deny him?

"All right." Barely able to control himself, Zack pulled back and straightened himself, reaching next to him and pouring just a little more lubricant into his hand. He grabbed his cock and slicked himself, looking back down at Cloud. His Cloud, _his. _"This may hurt a bit, but I swear I'll be as gentle as I can. Take a deep breath."

Cloud did as what he was told as Zack used one hand to position himself at his entrance, the other draping across Cloud's shoulder to grab his hand. "Lean up a little," he told Cloud, who obliged, and with gentleness that would have surprised any other lover he slowly inched himself in, never once letting go of Cloud's hand. He pulled lightly on the blond's shoulder, and just as slowly as he was penetrated, he leaned into Zack. Cloud let out a little sound from the back of his throat and automatically Zack stopped moving until the blond nodded just a tad, signaling for him to continue.

Once fully inside, the trail of black curls rubbing against Cloud's backside, Zack asked, "Did I hurt you?"

Cloud shook his head. "Not much."

Zack allowed both of them to get used to the feelings, spending the time kissing the side of Cloud's mouth. The strong muscles wrapping around his cock were almost painfully exciting and there was no possible way that he would be able to last for too long. And, from Cloud's clenched fists and shallow breaths, he probably wasn't either.

Moving his hand away from the base of his cock, Zack wrapped the arm around Cloud's chest and with a small grunt withdrew an inch or so and smoothly pushed back in. There were already stars in Zack's vision as he began an almost steady rhythm, occasionally punctuated by an errant thrust to Cloud's prostate which would send his young lover almost over the edge.

It was the most agonizing experience Zack ever fet, fighting against his body wanting nothing more than to grab Cloud's hips and slam into his without abandon. But, he wanted to hear every pant and scream of passion that he could extend from this experience.

He waited until Cloud looked close to coming, and leaned forward, tightening his grip on his hand. "Touch yourself." Zack nuzzled his face into the crook of Cloud's neck and tasted the expanse of skin, sucking and nipping. "Just let go."

Zack looked down to see Cloud's shaking hand wrap around his cock and almost automatically he leaned back, hard, into Zack, hand pumping roughly. He let out a cry, one that he didn't even try to hide, and tensed as pearly ropes exploded over the rainbow of blankets underneath them. It was that sound that sent Zack over the edge, and within a few shallow thrusts he felt his entire body convulse with his orgasm, his breath catching in his throat. The only sound that escaped was a euphoric whisper of Cloud's name as he felt his thighs almost give out underneath him.

He steadied himself as he felt the last of his orgasm pump out of his body, leaving him drained and weak. He pulled out and finally let go of Cloud's hand and grabbed one of the dirty blankets, wiping off some of the mess before Cloud finally turned around and all but dropped to the blankets, pulling Zack down with him.

"I love you." Cloud's voice was soft, almost inaudible between the heavy, shaky breaths.

"Love you, too." Zack never was a cuddler, but he wrapped one arm around Cloud and pulled him across his chest with no plans on letting him go. They weren't sweating, but drops of pale green mako dripped down Cloud's forehead, his blond hair slick with it. Zack was sure that he looked the same. They rested like this until it didn't feel like their hearts would beat out of their chests.

"I kinda wanna do it again."

Zack pulled up one of the blankets, wrapping it around both of them like a cocoon. "It's not late and we're not old," Zack told him. He let his fingers play with the blond's supple skin, tracing the outline of his thigh.

Cloud grabbed his wandering hand and quickly stopped it from continuing down his leg. "Not so fast," he said as he tugged the hand up to his chest, threading their fingers together, "you promised that I would get the _full_ experience of what sex is like. Mean's you're gunna have to lube up your cute butt so that you don't take away any of those first-time experiences."

Of course, Zack couldn't do anything but chortle as Cloud attacked his mouth with kisses.

"You think my butt's cute?"

"Just like you think mine is."

They made love again that night, their positions and kisses blurred into the singular action of their bodies joining together. They learned what they felt like slicked together with semen and mako, their fumbling arms wrapped around each other for comfort. How many times, how many hours of exploration, Zack wasn't sure. He found a spot on Cloud's spine that when he stroked it, Cloud would writhe under his ministrations. He liked when Zack pulled on his earring with his teeth and used his teeth ever-so gently against the underside of his cock. Little things like that made sex so powerful, so intimate.

And when they lay silent when they simply couldn't keep going, Zack whispered sweet nothings into Cloud's hairline as they fell asleep next to one another. But before finally succumbing, he heard Cloud say something that was washed away in the warmth of sleep and his arms.

* * *

In the morning as Zack rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes and someone banged furiously at his bedroom door, he realized that Cloud's side was already cold.

* * *

**Admit it. You love me and hate me with every ounce of your being right now. Almost four years of following the timeline closely, it is soon coming to an end. This is where things begin to break and change, as planned from day one. Part 4 of this chapter, and our final member leaving, comes next. Then, the sky falls. **

**I want to thank you guys for your continued support in Tenacity. It means a ton to me, and I will continue writing until this story every loose thread it tied up.**

**So, I know this may be asking a lot from some of you non-reviewers, but do you think we can get up to 1800 with this chapter? It would be really great, and I would absolutely love to hear what you think of what just occurred. Know that I've been looking forward to and simultaneously dreading this chapter for years. I kind of wanted Zack and Cloud's first time to be realistic and fitting with their characters and the relationship they have, without being overly floofy and completely OOC. I hope that it was the way you wanted their first time to be.**

**Anyway, enough of that.**

**Please Review!**


	85. And the Glass Shatters 4

The wait for this chapter stems from my literal _dread_ of what happens now.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilation. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Eighty: And the Glass Shatters, Part 4

Zack quickly dressed, yelling to whoever was banging on the door to give him a minute.

_Where did Cloud go?_

The night before had been... nothing short of perfect, Zack thought. It happened when it was supposed to happen, how it was supposed to happen. When they finally fell asleep, their bodies simply too tired to continue the dancing of tongues and caresses, they held one another tight. Yet, when he woke with whoever was trying to put a hole in the wall, the bed was cold.

Where had Cloud gone?

"Coming, coming!" he yelled again, snapping the prongs into his belt and heading toward the door, twisting it open. He nearly had his face punched in by Tifa, barely managing to pull his head away from where she had begun wearing a hole into the brick.

"Cloud's gone," she said, pulling her knuckles to her mouth. "We've looked everywhere and he's gone—nowhere. Is he in there with you?" she asked, though Zack knew from her tone that she knew he was not with him. She had already scoured the room with her eyes.

"No," Zack answered quickly, pulling his arms in toward his body. "He's not in here... are you sure he's not with—"

"He's with no one; we've just noticed him gone. Barret went to go search the car, but there's no way out." The color in Tifa's face slowly drained and Zack could hear the words formulating in her mind.

"I'm sure this has nothing to do with Sephiroth," he quickly told the woman, putting a hand on her shoulder. "He probably just... wandered off."

"But he wasn't in his room last night," Tifa replied, shrugging off the ex-SOLDIER's hand. "Aeris told me that he was off gallivanting with you, checking out the rest of the temple. I thought of following behind, but..."

A stone dropped through Zack's stomach.

"It was really boring," he told her, crossing his arms in front of him, then uncrossing and turning away from the woman. "We didn't find much; mostly broken junk and a couple of mon—"

Her eyes silenced him.

"Then why were his boots still in my room?" There was something in her voice, a weariness Zack knew could only come from heartbreak. Months before that had been his voice, confused and afraid of what came so easily, now.

"Why'd you have his boots?" he questioned, looking at the woman oddly.

"He left them in there last night, by my door. There was something wrong with the sole and he wanted to see if I could do anything for them. Of course," Tifa bit, "that means he obviously wasn't wearing them out on your excursion last night."

Zack wished he could take back his words. Sometimes he was just a piss-poor liar.

"Are you..." she began, and Zack could see the whites of her fists and the tremble she tried to stifle, "are you and Cloud..."

What could he do? He could lie, that was always an option. Then again, his lies ended Zack up in this particular situation to begin with. Telling her the truth would break Tifa's heart; while he knew that the woman's heart was in a good place, her adoration for Cloud was sometimes too much to bear. He knew it wasn't her fault, Bahamut knew how easily he'd fallen under the blond's spell, but it was so hard to be normal with Cloud when she was around. The others knew of what was going on between Zack and Cloud and didn't say a word against it. Sure, Barret may have been a bit weary about the whole thing, but mostly from the perspective of the leader having his head in the clouds (literally and figuratively, it seemed.)

But Tifa?

Tifa was actively attempting to court Cloud, to drop little (and big, considering their prior kiss) hints to get the man to see how much he meant to her.

But...

"Tifa, I think when we find where Cloud wandered off, you should talk to him about... all this." Zack gestured to the walls and himself, and then her.

"Just tell me the truth, please?" She wasn't going to cry, throw a tantrum, or try to kill him. From the blunt edge of her words, Zack knew better than to deny speaking. She had her shoulders hunched and she grabbed her dolphin-hair split. She looked him straight in the eyes, her demure body stance not conflicting with the emotions in her wine-red eyes. "I spent the last seven years waiting to apologize to him for what happened when we were kids," she began, "and over that time I could never get him out of my head. After Nibelheim burned, I dreamed of him rescuing me from it all, like he promised."

"He did try to rescue you in Nibelheim," Zack responded quickly. It was true; the girl had been bleeding to death from an awful stomach wound. He had ignored her completely when he dodged up the stairs after Sephiroth. Right then, it didn't matter—he needed to save his friend from himself, or at least stop him from trying to reunite with Jenova. Nothing was more important in that split moment than Sephiroth, and he felt guilt at his decision. Thankfully, Cloud had been able to help her with a _Cure_... it had probably saved her. "He was the one who tried healing Sephiroth's cut."

This quieted Tifa, her eyes going wide like saucers, pink suffusing to her cheeks. "I know... but it's only been about two months since I found that out. And it just made it so much harder not to love him." A tear slipped from her eye and she palmed it, pretending it hadn't come. "Please," she pleaded, "just don't lie to me anymore. I... just say the words."

Zack wanted to grab her by the shoulders and hug her, pour all his feelings into letting the woman know that this wasn't because she wasn't good enough or that she should be ashamed, but held the desire back. No doubt she didn't want him to touch her.

"Since Gongaga," Zack finally answered, watching the woman's gaze drop down. "Cloud and I have been together since Gongaga."

In all truth, Zack expected her fist to crash into his face, break the bones of his nose and cheek... make him _hurt_. In a way, he deserved it.

_Neither Cloud nor I wanted to tell anyone,_ Zack remembered with a bit of hesitance... It really should have been Cloud to tell her. It was his right, after all. She wasn't in love with Zack, never yearned nor pined for him the way she did almost painfully for the boy who had loved her, once upon a time.

He wondered only for a brief interlude if he should tell her about the Cloud before Nibelheim burned, the one that loved her with everything in his little teenage heart. Zack had seen the looks, understood the feeling; at one time, Cloud had been utterly infatuated with her. It was sort of like how Zack had been infatuated with Reno, no matter how he tried to deny the feelings. Perhaps it wasn't love, but it was strong emotion that bound them.

**It could have been her with him last night if she hadn't denied him**_,_ the treacherous part of his mind sneered, though he kept the words locked down in the deepest pit he could dig. She couldn't have known then how special Cloud was, how important he was. The voice in Zack's head seemed to disagree.

**He's been special all his life; he deserved to be treated with at least a speck of respect. She never gave it to him, you did. He needed love, devotion, someone willing to kiss away the tears and build him into the person he should be. He has felt more in the last three months than he ever did before. Maybe, just maybe, this can save him.**

Zack didn't understand what the voice inside his head was talking about—what did Cloud need to be saved from?

**Don't deny him now. He will need you more than anyone on this Planet. Do not forsake him. **

From what, Zack wasn't sure—his brain seemed to run off on its own, pretending that there was something important hidden within the crevices of his mind and hoping that it would simply reveal itself to him when he was ready to accept it. But this made no sense; it wasn't even like he could control his own thoughts any longer.

Tears blotted Tifa's vision and she laughed humorlessly, her arms tightening closer to her body. "Gongaga. That's just great, just fantastic." She wiped her eyes with her gloves, head bobbing with faux-mirth. "Why didn't I see it sooner... did you have fun, playing with my emotions like that?"

Her words cut and Zack forced his gaze away from her to prevent hey eyes from cutting into him. "We didn't think that at all, we just didn't want to hurt..."

"Who, me? And did you think that finding out this way would be better?" she bit harshly, words like mako. "I was the only one who didn't see, wasn't I? Did you guys think it was funny watching me fall further and further in love? Did you giggle when I kissed him, thinking that it was amusing?"

"None of that, Tifa!" Zack exclaimed, reaching out to grab her shoulders.

She moved quickly, grabbing his wrist and yanking it away from her, then twisting it backward, putting his arm behind his back. He could have broken the woman's restraints easily (have at least fifty pounds of muscle and over seven inches on her, not to mention the fact that he had more mako than blood tainted in his system) but... perhaps he deserved it, deserved to feel a little physical pain compared to her emotional pain.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" she whispered against his straining shoulder muscles. "You're supposed to be fighting, trying to break free, doing _something_."

"Am I?" The muscles in his upper neck were beginning to get stiff and ache, but Zack did not press away from her. "Will it make you feel better? Because if it does, maybe you should just break a few bones and get it out of your system."

Her grip lessened until she finally released him, her back hitting into the door frame. Her breath was ragged and her face was paler than Zack thought it could be. "We need to find him." Tifa shook her hands out and pulled on the straps, tightening the gloves until the shaking in her hands subsided, at least temporarily. "If he's not in here then Gaia knows where he is... and who's with him."

It hadn't taken more than a minute to dart out of the room and out of the residential-styled area, passing by the purple-cloaked guard. Its hand passed over his and a brief flash of Cloud walking ever-so calmly out of the room and down the corridor flashed across his vision. Without thanking the guard, he took off down the way barely realizing until he neared a recognizable path. He walked for an hour or so, butchering the beasts he came in contact with, not seeing a kind face since he had run off from Tifa.

_Creak. _Unsheathing his sword again, Zack turned on his heel and lifted the Buster up, angling the blade to slide through the monster's tendons.

"Zack, I need to talk to you," Aeris said, half out of breath with sweat dribbling down her hairline. "It's important."

She must have been following him since halfway back to the original path while he was busy rushing forward and through the walkway, passing by a pool of water. For a split second Zack thought he saw Sephiroth lounging in the water in his full leather ensemble. Of course, when he looked back there was nothing there, but the daydream had been more than enough to make him nervous. The hair on the back of his neck stood rigid.

Looking to the woman, Zack noted quickly that there was a trace amount of panic crossing over her face, cheeks blushed with pink from the excursion.

"Can it wait?" he responded as he swung the sword back on his back and walked past her, continuing toward one of the areas they had yet to cover in their search the day before. It was hampered a bit by Aeris being unconscious for a part of it, of course. "Are you okay, from yesterday?" Zack slowed his pace just a bit, feeling wretched for rushing the woman whose balance seemed to barely hang by the gravity of the bizarre temple and the situation.

She shook her head, a drop of sweat disappearing down the side of her throat. Her braid had come loose at the bottom, the hairs fanning out in a disorganized pattern. "It's about Cloud," Aeris said finally.

Zack's right foot connected to the ground and bucked. "Do you know where he is?"

"No, but Zack," she put her hand on his arm, fingers unknowingly in the same position Tifa had grabbed him before, "there's something I need to tell you." A bracelet of green and red materia jingled and tapped against his skin.

"Aeris, can't this wait?"

She shook her head again and her hand pulled him closer, to not let him escape. "No! Zack, you have to listen now, I don't know how much time we have." Her voice rose and crescendoed with her anxiety. The bottom of her braid continued to unravel. "I need you to pay very close attention to it. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, fine," Zack finally said, removing his arm from the woman's grasp. "Just realize that I need to _find Cloud_."

"This has to _do_ with Cloud!" she said harshly, her voice a growl coming from deep inside her throat. "If you want to lose, then go: Walk off without knowing what you're up against. Or you can just **listen to me**." The more she spoke, the more her voice melted away, until there was nothing of the sweet, mild-tempered Aeris left. The voices (for there were many and they were all so very loud) conjoined and echoed throughout the hall.

"Aeris, what's going on?" he questioned, though he was confident he already knew where the voices came from. She was the last Cetra, after all.

"_**You must break the cycle. There is no time to dawdle and no room for error; this is the last chance for this Planet. You must stop it on your own, or the suffering of my people shall be for naught.**_" Aeris's hair began to lift in a non-existent breeze, the curls twirling above her head like a swarm of bees whose nest was filled with ice. "_**You play your part, as She shall play her own.**_"

Zack wanted to question the Cetra, but bit back as Aeris's hair was once again claimed by gravity, the rest of her body falling with it. He caught her, and slowly brought her down on the path gently, cradling her head against his chest.

"Aeris?"

The woman didn't so much as twitch.

Zack sighed and kicked out his left leg, back hitting the cavern and rubbing against the rock. He could feel the granules of rock rub into his pores, but paid it little mind to it. How was he going to find Cloud when Aeris was unconscious? He couldn't exactly _leave_ her there. There were monsters in the temple and being responsible for her getting eaten by a Kelzmelzer or an Under Lizard wasn't part of his plan. But, in the same vein, he couldn't waste time and bring her back to the main part of the temple—it has taken him over an hour to get where he was now, and turning around wouldn't work. Too much time lost...

It came in a rush. It took a moment for Zack to realize that he couldn't feel his hands, that his entire body felt like it was dumped into a ice bath. It was hard to keep his eyes open. What...?

"I'm really sorry about this," Aeris said, and she whisked a hand across Zack's forehead before pushing herself away. "This is for your own good. I need to stop Cloud."

Zack's eyes slid closed and the last thing he was was brilliant green.

* * *

It could have been minutes or hours, Zack wasn't sure. When he came to, it was like waking on a bed of soft moss. He had to blink the Sleep spell from his eyes for several long moments before the world righted itself and the ground turned hard again.

Panic welled up in his stomach and Zack pulled himself off of the ground, clinging to the walls in support. Where did Aeris go? What did she mean?

What was going on.

"Damn it," Zack said as he kicked his legs, trying to make them move. The spell left him stiff and sore with prickling across his skin, a thousand bugs crawling over him.

What was he supposed to do.

The moment his feet could shuffle forward without his entire body catapulting forward, he began to walk. He tried to remember the way Aeris's pink dress fluttered from his sight and could only move forward. Once, Zack came to a crossroads, but he clung left, following the almost unrecognizable trail Aeris left when her boots padded across the ground.

The trail seemed to become more bright and a door was slowly coming into view, though Zack more than questioned what he saw before him. It didn't make sense, though the entire day thus far hadn't made any sense. If a door appeared before him, Zack couldn't only think that it was supposed to be there.

His head ached and he stopped, rubbing his eyes. Pain trickled from behind his eyes and down his spine and if it hadn't been so serious, if Aeris hadn't knocked him unconscious and Cloud had run off, the man would have been content to just lie down on the floor and sleep. The night before seemed like a distant memory, even with the little sleep he experienced. He would have given anything to be back in that bed with Cloud's arms around him, holding him close like he'd wanted for too long. Instead, he was here.

Zack slipped the door open and pushed it open with the toe of his boot. The walls were painted in blacks and reds, the golden glow of the light shining down and illuminating the carefully-chiseled murals. Had it been a different time, a different place, Zack would have enjoyed the beauty of the room the Cetra must have spent years creating.

Right now, however, he just wanted out.

He looked down the long room and his foot stopped suddenly, body jolting forward. Aeris and Cloud were there, just ahead.

And so was Sephiroth.

Zack wanted to scream, but his voice caught in his throat as he pulled out his sword and slowly walked forward, afraid any movement would cause Sephiroth to snap.

Bobbing behind Sephiroth, who perched himself on top of the alter, was an exact replica of the temple. Cloud and Aeris stood side by side before him, though Cloud didn't have any weapon to protect himself. Aeris only had her staff, which wasn't much in protection despite its size. To Sephiroth, to _Masamune_, it was a pretty little stick.

"Get away from them."

"Such a beautiful place, filled with such overwhelming knowledge," Sephiroth said after Zack advanced to the mid-point of the room. The mural to his left was a falling star. There was blood on the ground and Zack purposely stepped in it, scraping his shoe across the ground. Dry as bone. "I will become one with this Planet. Does it mean I shall inherit the beauty of this tomb?"

"You'll never be one with this Planet!" Aeris shrieked, holding her staff out like a sword. "You are no Cetra."

Sephiroth laughed. "Cetra... alas, I am so much more." He held his hands out, sword an extension of his arm. "I am a God. Cetra bleed, Cetra die. Neither shall happen to me. I am to rule this Planet, to present it to my Mother as a gift... she has spent the last two thousand years waiting for her child to open his arms to her embrace."

Zack's stepped up to the alter, but lowered his weapon to not strike Cloud or Aeris. He wanted, desired, _yearned_, to pull Aeris and Cloud away but there was no time, instead situating himself in front of Buster weighed down his arms like it had when he first began to fight with it, though the Sleep spell was beginning to dissipate. No longer were there double of things; instead only a singular, cold, reality.

Cloud was quiet.

"Sephiroth, this ends now."Zack's fingers shook and he gripped Buster tighter, feeling the leather between his fingers and pushing into his skin. "You aren't the man I knew, not anymore."

Sephiroth's features twisted into a smirk, his mako-green eyes a sickening hue. Once, they had been pale gray, when he was still human. Now, he was nothing more than the monsters he once butchered.

**He was not always as such, remember.**

And yet it was painful to even think of a time where Sephiroth was normal. It made his hands sweat.

"It's a reunion." The voice was so low that Zack almost didn't catch the words. However, they were repeated louder. "It's a reunion."

"Cloud, what are you talking about?" Zack said through the corner of his mouth, eyes not moving from Sephiroth's catlike features. He could feel Cloud move from his spot, backing up and away from the scene.

"Zack!"Aeris screamed as Zack felt something against the back of his neck, sharp and cool and so very, very...

"Cloud..." Zack's sword arm lost its strength and the tip of Buster went down into the dirty at his feet. "What're you doing?" Zack could hear Cloud's breathing, slow and soft, once a comfort. The blade against his skin pushed a little further. "This isn't you, Cloud. Let the knife go. Aeris—"

"We shall take this world from your kind and give it back to Mother."

"Mother? Cloud, this isn't you! Snap out of it," Zack pleaded, but a niggling in his head told him that more than what he dared admit to himself outloud "Aeris, knock him out!"

Zack let his sword slip out of his grasp slowly, watching Sephiroth's eyes and so much more importantly, his Masamune. The pressure against the back of his neck did not ease.

"Cloud's not Cloud, Zack," Aeris whispered.

"He has been with me."

_That voice... that voice..._

The knife dragged across the back of his neck, dragging and pulling at his taunt flesh. Blood dribbled out of the cut and Zack stilled his breath as not to allow Cloud more access to his skin. There was a sting, but the pain was not great, not yet.

"Mother shall accept us into her arms... _She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting." _

Air left the planet, left the galaxy, left the universe. Zack opened his mouth, but no air left or entered his lungs. His mouth and throat was filled with cement and he fell to his knees.

"No, no..." Zack pleaded but a voice rang in his head, from so very long ago...

_"Specimen 'C', I have deemed, is a complete failure. He has been unresponsive to the 'S' strain. I have decided that beginning tomorrow another set of experiments will occur, to see if 'G' cells may counterbalance the 'S'._"

No, no. This couldn't, this wouldn't... Zack bit back a scream and turned his head away from Sephiroth before him. Cloud was always Cloud; he'd never acted differently, or spoke differently, or...

**Do you finally understand?**

"It... it was always the little things," Zack whispered, words choking out. "You knew things that I remember but you... you shouldn't have. And... why would I remember them? Why would I remember you rising through the ranks if you never did... why do I remember training with you when..."

_Genesis Rhapsodos was never good with a gun._

But...

**Cloud was, he always was. Remember when he saved you? In Modeoheim?**

"You shot that monster right out of the sky, you were good... you were always so good... how could I forget?"

**And he picked up a katana, instead... Do you remember what you said?**

"_But Cloud, you've never learned how to handle one. I know you can use basics, but something like katana were solely for-" _

"SOLDIER... First-Class." The words escaped Zack's mouth and he put his head down on the ground, feeling the dirt and dust coat his eyelashes. His head was just too heavy to pick up and his neck simply could not support his weight any longer.

Cloud's hand rested itself at the back of his neck and with the gentleness of a lover, tugged his head to the side so Zack was forced to look at his face.

His freckles still dotted his nose, blond hair messy and spiked, and his mouth curled down, like it always did when Cloud was busy thinking about something, important or not. He swallowed and his Adam's apple bobbed... and just by looking at him, it was impossible for Zack to believe this wasn't the man who spent the night before curled up next to him, kissing him, loving him, sharing the carnal pleasure they both wanted and needed so desperately...

And yet, his eyes were green, bright like Sephiroth, bright like a Death spell.

"Oh, sweet little Puppy, ever so blind. I would have through you would have caught on a long while ago."

Genesis Rhapsodos stood up and pushed his blond hair from his face.

"Though, I must say... you are quite a fantastic fuck." A smirk spread across his mouth. "I do wish I could have had more time with you, but unfortunately I've much to do with Sephiroth. You see, Mother needs us, more than ever before. She needs us to save her wandering child, so lost in this great, wide, world."

Genesis stepped past Aeris who stood ramrod straight, her staff quaking in her hand. He leaned close to her and leered, licking his lips. "You're a little morsel, aren't you? Perhaps next time," he laughed and waved his hand flamboyantly at her.

"Cloud?" Zack asked. Pulling at the last shred of himself, he begged, "Snap out of it! Cloud, please."

"Oh, by the Goddess! Cloud this, Cloud that... you simpering fools. Sweet little puppy," Genesis knelt forward and Zack could not look into those mako green eyes, so harsh. They didn't fit with Cloud's face; it wasn't Cloud's face. "You were never the brightest materia in the box, were you? Alas, it matters not."

Genesis's mouth twisted up, like the gnarled branch of a great tree, and he snapped his fingers. "Sephiroth, the clock is ticking and _Mother _needs us. Shall we?" He held out his weapon, swinging it in an arc.

"Yes. We must... reunion."

* * *

**Welcome to 4 years stuck in my head. It's been laid out since the prologue. **

**I can't tell you how it'll end, but I want to remind you this story is nowhere near done. We're got a long way to go... and still a part 2. :3**

**A quick note to prevent confusion: The first weapon Cloud used was a katana. Its name was Seraphina. The next weapon was Orios, which was closer to a broadsword. In light of recent events, Cloud's new sword will be a rapier. Remember, I go through swords like Reno goes through vodka. The use of a katana at first was my need for Cloud to have a lighter weapon that was a contrast to Zack's. There really wasn't much more thought than that.  
**

**Please Review!**


	86. Rebirth Four: Wilting

Author Notes: Note that the timing of the character parts are split by timing. This covers roughly a two week period, stemming from when Jessie's sister is killed to a little after Tseng is stabbed. I actually started writing this after I started writing the next chapter, so...

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilation. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Rebirth Four: Wilting

* * *

She was dead.

She was dead.

She was dead.

This world would _burn._

* * *

Skylar let the little girl rest her head on his shoulder, her brown hair tickling his cheek. She was a sweet thing, soft-spoken with kind eyes and a kinder smile. She reminded Skylar of his little sister in Bone Village, the sister he only saw on the rare occasion he was given leave.

When he'd been accepted into the TURK program, like all Turks before him, he was given a slot at the bottom of his paper. He could put one name, one group, one genre of people that no matter the circumstance, he would not have assignments for. Though it was secret, an unspoken rule of sorts, after spending a few years with his fellow Turks he knew who they protected ever so diligently. Maybe it was because he spoke to them with kind, warm words that he was able to understand who they cherished the most. Maybe it was because, once upon a time, he'd gotten a bit bored with writing his reports and hacked into the central TURK database. Some surprised him, but many didn't.

Most Turks put down "family" as their protected group. This didn't surprise Skylar. It was human nature to want to protect the ones you loved, those who held the dearest place in your heart. There were others who were more direct in who they protected. Louis wrote 'his children' and listed out their names, ages, and even attached pictures to the file. There weren't many Turks with kids, though it seemed common practice for that to be done.

Poor Louis; Skylar didn't even know how long it had been since his co-worker had seen his three kids. He'd show pictures whenever he had a few minutes to spare, though Skylar noticed how the man pointedly avoiding talking about his ex-wife. It was probably quite a messy divorce—Turks were different than civies. They just didn't co-exist well.

Some, like Penelope, put nothing down.

Raiden put down "Rufus Shinra" in bold letters. That was before the Vice President became president, before there was a guaranteed blanket of protection over the man. It'd been over eight years ago, even before the two of them began their tryst. It made Skylar smile; even Turks could fall in love.

Another that didn't surprise him was Rude's, which read "women." Just women. Skylar wondered why he put it down, but never have the courage to admit to his snooping.

Elena put down "Alyssa."

Alyssa put down "Elena."

Jessie, the newest Turk, put down her sister, Lona's, name. This one was going to need to get crossed out, as well. Skylar felt something in the pit of his stomach drop when he heard about the nurse's death. The only reason Jessie came to Shinra was to protect her sister... now that she was gone, would the woman do something stupid? Since she was sleeping with Tseng, there wasn't a chance of it. There couldn't be.

Sebastian's was a name crossed out three times, and in the corner of the paper it read "deceased." There was another that was crossed out, but that one had another name put in its place, which was also crossed out. "Jamie Heusen" was replaced with "Zack Fair" though Zack Fair had yet to be replaced. Two notes were at the bottom, both labeled as deceased. There were spots dotting the paper where the ink ran and Skylar didn't want to think too much about it.

Now that he knew Zack was still alive, the Turk wondered if Zack's name would be reinstated, particularly given the nature of the ex-SOLDIER's fight against Shinra.

One that did surprise him a little was Cissnei's, prior to her death. It'd once been Zack Fair, but after his disappearance and supposed death, it transferred to another SOLDIER by the name "Kunsel Morris." Skylar knew of who Kunsel was, but never understood why Cissnei would protect him, as she'd never spent much time with him or even seemed to consider herself on more than acquaintance terms with the SOLDIER.

There was one name that had completely thrown Skylar for a loop—the name written in Tseng's elegant, looping cursive, particularly because Tseng continuously broke the unspoken rule time and time again. Aeris Gainsborough, Aeris Gainsborough, Aeris Gainsborough.

Did she even know how much his commander adored her, even going so far as to risk his neck simply by writing her name on his paper? Skylar was excellent with computers, and more so than that, he was loyal to Tseng. But what if someone else got into the mainframe? What would they do if the Science Department knew about Tseng's love, his cherished one. Even when his cruel facade was in place, there was always something holding him back, keeping him human. Keeping him alive.

Skylar's had been easy.

Children.

There were rumors that he was the cruelest of the Turks, the one who committed unspeakable atrocities to children, that with his sweet face and baby blue eyes. The Baby Killer, the Baby Raper. So false, so untrue. Any mission when a child was in danger, was on a hit list, Skylar couldn't go on. Each time he looked at their sweet faces, untouched by the evil of life, he saw his little sister smiling up at him. Any mission he went on, children were safe.

Once, when he'd been a Turk trainee, the President ordered him on a trip to a small town near Mideel. The objective: Kill a well-known anti-Shinra leader. Unspoken were the fates of his family. His wife and young daughter, only two and a half... she had the brightest green eyes and when Skylar was told to shoot her, she simply smiled, not understanding the words. Se had smiled and clapped her hands, reaching out for him even as Skylar's gun shook in his hand, even when he took the safety off, even when he placed the gun against her temple, her blonde hair curled.

He was accepted into the Turks immediately following the assignment, and didn't even blink as he jotted down the words. No children. Never children.

Never again.

So, when he was called to do this assignment, at first he outright refused. This assignment was identical in his eyes to the one with the sweet, young girl...

But the President and Tseng insisted. There wouldn't be death, but they did need someone who could take care of a child, prevent her from interfering too much. It was the threat of Shinra that would complete the mission, not the death of the girl. And they needed him, the one whose name was known as the one to fear, the one parents had nightmares of...

And yet, they were so wrong.

Skylar felt the little girl wake and move, twisting herself up into a small ball on the seat of the plane, her arms and legs curled up next to her. He had to crouch down (despite his rather short stature, he wasn't quite small enough for the girl to reach his shoulder otherwise) for her to lay her head to rest.

Marlene. Her name was Marlene.

She was the pawn against the leader of Avalanche, and of course, Zack Fair. Yet, of all the people he was meant to scare, Skylar knew Zack knew him, and knew the truth more than any of the rumors. Considering this... there was a chink in their armor, in their defense. Skylar thought to mention it to the boss, but when he called the Turk commander, there was no answer. And either way, Tseng must have had a reason...

It was better than putting Sebastian in charge of babysitting, anyway.

"Are you awake, Miss?" Skylar asked as the girl nudged against him.

"Mmmhmm, where's Mrs. Gainsborough?" the girl asked as she yawned, covering her mouth. Her sleepy brown eyes searched the area for her caretaker.

"She's fine," the blond Turk answered, "now go back to sleep. We'll be to your new home soon." It was a house in Kalm that belonged to the late President Shinra and Skylar hoped the girl would like it. There would be sunshine and her own little garden, a place for her to play and enjoy her childhood, the way she never could in the slums. He searched her face, her sickly, translucent face where she had bruises under her eyes and blue veins through her cheeks, and thought of how many other children looked like little Marlene and would never leave the slums.

"Will you stay with me, Mister Sky?" Marlene wrapped her arm around Skylar's and pulled petulantly.

"Of course I will."

* * *

"You should be aware of your placement," Sebastian intoned as he crossed his arms in front of him, looking down at the woman before him. Her eyes were tired, puffed and ringed with red. She'd yet to really cry, but it was obvious of what she did every time she ran her fingers underneath her eyes.

It made her look decades older and even uglier. Even her foolish bravery did nothing in his eyes. A few years ago, when the crowfeet were gone and the stress of living under the plate with only Shinra war benefits the stable income, she could have been beautiful. Before time, before responsibility, before the ugliness that was life corrupted, Elmyra would have made a very wonderful specimen.

Now, there wasn't much left of her.

She did not respond, so Sebastian continued, "You will be housed in Shinra housing and kept until such a time as we no longer deem you and your charge's affiliations with AVALANCHE and the enemy dangerous to Shinra's well-being. You will be supplied with what you are needed, as per orders under our Commanding Officer. Are there any questions?"

Tseng went out of his way for this woman and the girl. Sebastian wasn't blind, nor deaf. It'd been going on for years, the secretive glances Tseng would give to the Ancient. She was beautiful like the whisper of spring and Sebastian couldn't fault the Head of the Turks. As someone who understood aesthetic beauty, she certainly topped them all. How such a wonder grew in the slums, Sebastian didn't know.

Still, because of the foolish _feelings_ his boss sheltered in the dark recesses of his heart, Sebastian knew he had to complete the mission with no casualties, no matter how ugly the being were.

The woman said nothing and Sebastian sneered down at her, feeling the weight of her stare on his face, one his scar.

"Good."

* * *

Raiden blinked and rubbed his eyes. His head felt like lead and the sheets wrapped around his body felt like chains, but considering what the night prior was like, he was lucky he still had a body, let alone fully intact. Hissing as he gently scraped his nail against the cut on his cheek, he felt around with the other for his medication.

The mission didn't go as easily as planned. He'd really thought nothing of it—there was a contract on a target, he and Alyssa were to go into the slums and wipe out a small clinic in Sector 3. Not a scary hit at all.

He hadn't even bothered to look into who he was killing, but that was really standard practice nowadays. Ever since Rufus started scheming...

Rufus, scheming. That wasn't anything new or surprising. Raiden was high enough to know there was something going on with Strife, Fair, and their little gang of eco-terrorists, but he was a little spare on the details. There were files, that much he knew. Even a blind man could see the papers piling up on Rufus's desk, and he had even better view of them, considering how much time he spent tied up in there. But, Raiden didn't snoop. It seemed like a bad idea, and Holy only knew what Rufus would do if he caught him going through the CONFIDENTIAL files.

Not questioning his superiors was the hardest part about being a Turk. His job wasn't to think, it was to obey. Thinking about assignments, coverups, the whole she-bang led to too many problems, too much independence.

Raiden knew for a fact that he was just the guard dog of Shinra, no more and no less. That was what all Turks were. All SOLDIERs, too. There weren't many cases of Turks stabbing one another in the back, or the company turning on its Turks...

Except, Raiden knew there was more to that than anything. The Turks were turned on, he could count at least three cases, now: Vincent Valentine, Cissnei, and the trainee Turk, Jamie Heusen. From what Raiden could gather through his limited knowledge and extraordinarily brief encounter with the ex-Turk, Valentine knew too much and interfered with the Science Department. Cissnei had interfered with the Science Department as well... but Heusen was an unknown variable.

Raiden's heart pumped loudly in his ears and it took all of his control not to jump from his bed and tear ass to his boss's office and ransack the place.

_Don't know too much, don't do it. You'll get your ass killed._

Since the days he was in that gang below the plate, he knew how to keep his head on right. He knew what to push, what not to do, and more importantly, when to keep his mouth shut.

Yet... Did Heusen have something to do with the Science Department?

There was also another person to be turned on, the newest Recruit. Jessie. Raiden felt his arm and shoulder blade, remembering where a stray piece of shrapnel caught him the night before. The clinic exploded with more force than either he or Alyssa thought it could—there had been explosives in the basement, an anti-Shinra safehouse. It really wasn't a good idea to hide eco-terrorists in a neighborhood like Sector 3. Sector 3 was Raiden's old hunting grounds, and the people of that area looked up to him as something of a legend. Liquor, men, even information flowed to him, just because.

So, the two went, killed, and when they got back... realized exactly who they'd just put a hit on.

And Tseng had _known._

There were rules in place for a reason. Turks could turn down assignments, but it didn't mean whoever was on the list was _safe._ Raiden understood that, but it was the tonberry in the details—Jessie's sister wasn't safe. She'd never been safe. Fact was, in this retched world, the only thing that damn contract did was promise that you wouldn't have to be the one to pull the trigger.

Still, the only reason the woman even became a Turk was on her sister's behalf.

"What a fucked up world," Raiden deadpanned as he popped the white top off his pills and fished two out with his index finger. He looked around the spares room, the locked window and white curtains, and then to his nightstand. No water.

_Oh, well, _he thought as he swallowed the pain pills dry, but the scratching at his throat as they went down only made him more thirsty. The Turk resolved himself and swung his legs over the side of the bed and he could all but _hear _his bones creaking in protest.

Raiden padded his way to the sink and turned it on cold, shoving his mouth under the sink. The feeling of cotton in his mouth disappeared with the heavenly cool water, and he took several gulps until the ache of his throat faded. The water dribbled down his cheek and into the cut on his face. He continued to drink, greedy.

* * *

Reeve twisted the tie in his hands over and over again.

It was four in the morning and he hadn't slept. There probably wouldn't be any sleep for him for the next... however long it took until the job was done. Why in the world he'd gotten stuck in Shinra's politics, he couldn't say. All he wanted to do was build, be an architect. Midgar was a child, he its father—at least, the upper plate structure that he spent years fixing and perfecting. Midgar was originally built in eight different towns surrounded by one of the most beautiful structures in all of Gaia. Reeve had seen artist interpretations of the structure; some said it was a church, others a tomb. He couldn't say more than that it was beautiful.

The former President had the main plate constructed around the structure, to hide it from view. Reeve hadn't even been born when it was built, having been raised his entire life on the rolling hills facing Crodrel. As a young boy, so vibrant and foolish in his youth, Reeve planned on studying in that big city, whose lights he could see glittering miles away. Cities were so beautiful, so fantastic and enormous. He wanted them, wanted to build them, wanted to make them run and make them grow taller and taller until they touched the heavens.

He was fifteen when Shinra burned Crondrel. The city housed a population of over two million on the edge of the , and more than half of the people perished in the flames, in the bullets raining from the sky, in the mako exposure. Reeve didn't like to think back on that time when he was just a boy, but the smell stayed with him. The smell of burning metal, mako, and death. It rained ash for years, though Reeve only experienced the first few months, which were by far the worst. They breathed in dead bodies until Reeves was accepted into the esteemed Midgar University of Engineering program at 16, where he moved with a full scholarship and a new job for his father. They wanted him, and they wanted him badly.

And Reeve was naïve enough to accept. Had he known then that the entire purpose was to mold him into the perfect, unquestioning minion-like head of Urban Development, Reeve was sure he would have questioned it, would have wondered why.

Still, he accepted the placement of the people who burned down the city of his dreams. The smoldering metal still haunted him.

When he got to Midgar, his history and current events classes said that Crondrel burned because of an attack from Wutai. It started the first Wutaian War, the death of so many soldiers. It was before Sephiroth, before Zack, before Cloud... And before Genesis and Angeal.

Sephiroth he knew in passing, having paid little mind to Shinra's favorite SOLDIER. Zack and Cloud he never met, but Angeal and Genesis he knew well. The two had been sent to Wutai before the Second Wutaian War with Reeve, in a convoy to understand the way the main capital was built. Reeve was to be taken in as an ambassador of Shinra, which meant a gun was aimed at him at all times. Yet, Genesis and Angeal were his bodyguards as he walked the towns, drawing pictures and taking various photographs of the city. He figured it would be for the growing empire that was Midgar, but later, his intel was transferred to the Department of Administrative Research, who shared some of the intel with the Weapons Development Department.

It only took six months for Shinra to being unloading its arsenal against the Wutaian people, knowing where it the city to strike for the most damage.

But Angeal and Genesis... he remembered those two well. They were SOLDIER Second Class at the time, still a little wet behind the ears. Genesis spoke the language fluently, much better than Reeve at any rate, and spent a good portion of the trip translating things for him as they traveled through the streets. Angeal was the diligent watch-dog, eyes trained on the people, on the movements of the birds, on Reeve's breathing.

They worked well together, that much was obvious. It was also obvious the two were lovers, though that was much less hinted at. Reeve only understood the two because of his own relationship with his now ex-wife. He smiled at her the same way Genesis would smile at Angeal.

From the video captions of Cloud and Zack, it was the same look.

Not just the same, as he and his ex-wife... but identical.

Despite this niggling feeling in the back of his brain, he said nothing. It wasn't as though the others would understand or believe him, anyway. He was, at first, just a mechanical doll with a mind if its own. Now, he was Shinra scum holding Barret's daughter hostage...

She would be safe, though. Reeve had a terrible feeling about Midgar. It was his most prized work and yet, after he read the papers for the execution of a million people under the plate, he couldn't find any love for it. The release was put in place to cause the least amount of damage, to protect the rest of the plate should something terrible need to be quarantined. But, every day it seemed the main plate tilted a little more. In a few years time, without rebuilding the plate or putting in more support structures, the entire city would crumble.

He already evacuated his ex-wife and their two children to Kalm. She had screamed, furious at him for telling her what to do, but it only took one look for Mary to lose the color in her face and begin packing their things. Reagan, his chubby-cheeked princess cried as she clung to Reeve's leg, saying she didn't want to go. She was only five, and just started school a few months prior. She had new friends and liked her teacher...

Cas didn't say anything, instead slamming his door so loudly the house shook. Mary yelled, but Reeve rested his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. He was a teenager, in his last year of schooling before University. Reeve could remember that feeling at fifteen, hating everything and anything. Yet, his son led a sheltered life, one he'd purposely constructed to keep his family safe. He didn't step on toes, kept his head down, tried to create as few ripples as possible.

Reeve's mother, unfortunately, refused to be swayed from her home in Sector Five. She was staying where her son was, come a burning sun or falling plate. Reeve knew it useless to fight with her, but begged anyway, wishing that any words he said would plant little seeds in her mind, ones that would let her listen to her son, just this once. But she only smiled and told him he was like his father, patting his cheeks like she did when he was still a child. She sent him out for fresh flowers, and he went like the obedient son he was.

Reeve twisted the tie in his hands again, staring at his computer screen. There were two video feeds running, one in a five minute loop, the other live.

His first Cait Sith, who was like a third child... Gone.

It'd been noble, if anything. Sephiroth and Cloud—no, Genesis—would gladly sacrifice anyone on the alter of the Cetra to get their hands on something to rid the world of humans.

The Black Materia.

A shiver ghosted down Reeve's spine and he dropped the tie into his lap before letting go and crumpling in the chair. He was boneless, spineless... cowardly, even. And yet Cait, who took himself off manual programming (Reeve had yet to figure out exactly how the mechanical cat figured out how to override his coding) allowed himself to become the final sacrifice to the Cetra. He willingly gave his little mechanical heart up, to help the others.

Reeve wanted to take it as a sign, a sign from the heavens that Shinra wasn't right, that even a mechanical doll could see this.

Reeve glanced at the pictures on his desk, the smattering of papers and a new Cait, almost ready, just in case Cait Sith Mark 2 (who had taken up sleeping on the floor in his apartment prior to being sent to Aeris in Gongaga) failed at his mission. Or decided to throw himself on another pyre.

Would he... could he...

Reeve shook his head. Thinking like that, giving up on Shinra, wasn't good. It wasn't safe. Someone needed to keep a level head. Since Heidegger was gone, Scarlet and Hojo had more weight to throw around. The fat tub of lard was less useless now and more Hades-bent on destroying the ex-Turk who shot off his legs. He was even larger now with his lack of even walking, and took his frustrations out on anyone who walked too close to his mechanical wheelchair. There'd been stories that Palmer all but severed the Achilles tendon of one of his assistants, though verification of the story was lacking.

With the odds stacked up against him, with Tseng being in a coma in a hospital ward on the 40th floor (Vincent having all but thrown him at a Shinra convoy about thirty miles from the Temple) and Rufus hell-bent on wiping every trace of AVALANCHE from the map, abandoning Shinra and running to Zack Fair's side just wasn't a good idea. He didn't have anyone on their side, on the side of the people. On the side of the planet.

Wait...

Reno!

Though it wasn't spoken of, Reeve _knew_ Reno and his feelings about Avalanche, or more importantly, Fair. Since Tseng was out of commission until he healed, the Second-in-Command took over for the department. It was how the TURK program worked...

Maybe, just maybe, he wasn't so alone. Yet, how would he get in touch with Reno without bringing too much unwanted attention?

Reeve sighed ad scratched at his beard before letting his tie drop to the floor.

When did working for Shinra get so difficult?

* * *

Elena wept the first time she saw him lying in the hospital bed, his tan skin pale and clammy. She'd broken rank, but she didn't give a damn. This was her commanding officer, the man she adored. And there he was, laid out on stiff white sheets, his beautiful black hair greasy and matted, despite her best efforts to keep it clean. She'd even forced Reno to stop doing paperwork for a few minutes to help her hold him up as she ran a comb through his hair. The doctors made her stop this after accidentally jostling Tseng and making one of the stitches tear.

Since then, she cleaned his face with a damp cloth and meticulously groomed his nails, though she stayed far from lifting him. Elena had never felt guilt quite like that before; she'd hurt Tseng even if he wasn't awake and wouldn't remember it when he woke up.

Each time she said "when" the doctors corrected her. It was if, not when.

The blonde woman blanched at them the first time, tears coming to her eyes before she huffed, sniffled and wiped her face against her suit, before continuing on with what she had to say, only adding emphasis to the original word.

Tseng would wake up, he _would._

Elena looked around the hospital room, noting the lack of color on the walls. The only time she'd ever been in a hospital for an extended stay was when she was eight and her appendix ruptured. That hospital room was full of color and life, with hand-painting jungles and forests across the expanse of the walls. Even the ceiling was painted a clear blue, little cotton ball clouds puffed out across, running from side to side. There were flowers from her father every day as she healed, big bouquets with roses.

The ever-present beep of the machine reminded Elena she wasn't a child, that this was life and life was ugly, life was cruel, and more importantly, life could be colorless.

Maybe when she came by tomorrow she'd bring some fresh flowers for her boss. She'd read the company handbook a dozen times and never once was there a topic or rule against bringing your commander gifts when ill. Then again, Elena doubted that the Turks ever believed one of their own would end up critical in a hospital somewhere. Death was part of the job description.

"Any change?"

Elena looked up from the report she was supposed to be reading, but she'd used the white space between the paragraphs to doodle, eyes tracing over the same sentence. She didn't even remember what it said.

"Hm? Oh, no change. Not yet."

Reno looked like a lost and beaten dog. When they got back to Wutai, there were ever-present bags under his eyes, and when Tseng was stabbed, they became permanent tattoos. He had a 5o'clock shadow from the week prior and his suit was no longer in its casual, sexual, disarray. There were stains of coffee on his white shirt which looked like it was missing a button. He smelled like armpits and Elena was sure there was something living in his hair.

She wondered, idly, is telling her superior to take a bath and a nap would get her executed.

Reno yawned and stretched, his shirt riding up. There really wasn't a button on the bottom.

"Mister Reno, sir," Elena said,a blush crossing her cheeks. She prayed to every deity she knew of that he would be too tired to see, "Maybe you should go rest for a little while?"

Reno brushed her off and pulled a nearby chair, sitting in it with his legs swung completely apart and his chin on the back of the chair. "Dun' need ta rest, 'Lena. Just need the boss ta wake up." He reached into his pocket but faltered at the withering glare Elena sent him. "No smoking, righ'."

"I can take your shift, if you want," Elena offered, though she knew she truly shouldn't. She'd taken Raiden, Sebastian, and Skylar's shifts of watching Tseng. He couldn't be left alone in such an unsafe environment, after all. He was the Head of the Turks, and if truth be told, there was probably more loyalty to him than the President. This fact didn't particularly make good bedfellows with others.

Still, she'd been here for almost a full twelve hours on top of her shift. Sleep... Sleep would have been wonderful. But, Reno was so much worse off.

Reno looked up to her, his green eyes bright. "Heh, thanks kid but I think this would be best left to me."

Elena nodded her head and glanced down at her watch. Skylar's shift ended a minute ago, but her work day began in two hours. Sleep...

The woman sighed and rubbed her eyes as she stood, stretching her arms wide above her head. "If you're sure, Reno," she said faintly.

"Hmm... Also, I called in with Ash and Larc. They're going to be taking your assignments tomorrow. Ya look like shit."

Any other person would have been offended, but Elena was getting used to how crude Reno was and in fact took it as a bit of a compliment.

"I'll be back in a few hours," she said as she slipped her coat off the back of the chair, not having the energy to slip her arms into it. Instead, she draped it over her arm as she exited the room, closing the door behind her with a soft click.

* * *

Rufus ran the pad of his index finger around the mouth of the glass, collecting little droplets of whiskey. He dotted the finger against his tongue and let the taste assault his senses. It was a bottle from when his father has become president, aged and matured to where even a sip had the potency of an entire glass. His choice in liquor was one of the few things the Old Man did right and Rufus never begrudged him that.

He looked at the to opposite (and their glasses) and resisted the urge to say something. He did not like waste.

Genesis seemed to understand, grabbing his crystal glass with a swish of his wrist, resting it just below his nose so he could appreciate the brew. He was wearing something much closer to the clothing Genesis wore in the past; a leather duster in red, black turtleneck, even the standard-issue black pants all SOLDIER First Class wore. He was missing the standard Shinra belt and his boots had more of a heel than what most men wore. Genesis was always vain.

"Oh, it's been quite a while since I've had such excellent whiskey," the man said and it was almost comical how bizarre the words were coming from Cloud Strife's petite mouth. "The last time I drank was, oh... back in Kalm? It was difficult to get more than a few sips in here and there; the poor darling wasn't quite broken yet." A wicked smile curled from the SOLDIER's mouth. "If I had, well... this body would have been less of a virgin when the puppy finally got to me."]

Rufus internally winced. Genesis had a way of making the most disturbing of comments seem so flamboyant and carefree. The rape of Cloud Strife's body and mind... while he believed in using what is presented to oneself, there was a feeling like oil coating his insides. This perhaps went between the bounds of being morally acceptable and being outright disgusting.

He didn't have the time nor patience to care.

"No matter," Genesis continued, taking a sip of the whiskey, licking up the side of the glass to catch a few stray drops with the tip of his tongue. "Sephiroth, drink your drink."

Sephiroth was not entirely what Rufus expected. The man looked identical to the twenty five year old Sephiroth he remembered, from the way his hair fell to the man's stature. His eyes, however, were significantly more blank, more dulled. The fire was missing.

Genesis seemed to notice where Rufus's eyes were and answered, "Oh, yes. _That_. You see," Genesis crossed his legs and rested his hand on Sephiroth's thigh, "this is not quite our Sephiroth. It's more of a, dare I say it... prototype?" Genesis's mouth drew into a line. "We will travel to the Northern Crater to find our Sephiroth, the true Sephiroth. Until then, this being shares the memories, but none of the soul."

"Jenova's puppet, of course," it made so much more sense, now... though, something niggled in the back of Rufus's mind. "Still, why the Northern Crater? Wouldn't it make more sense to fish Sephiroth's old body from the Mako Reactor in Nibelheim?"

Genesis's sharp mako green eyes (the only evidence who he spoke with was not Strife) dilated. "That Sephiroth is absolutely useless. Broken. The Sephiroth which we need to alter this Planet for the Goddess is in the Northern Crater—he is pure, unadulterated, Sephiroth. The Sephiroth in Nibelheim lost his mind, succumbed to Hojo's twisted experimentation and the human empathy..." The SOLDIER's smile turned into a frown.

Rufus remembered the rivalry and friendship the two SOLDIERs had for one another, their intense battles and yet their equally intense, if not downright terrifying, loyalty to one another. When Genesis deserted, most of Shinra, including his father, bit his nails in fear that his SOLDIERs would abandon them. When Angeal left, they went into panic mode. The breaking of Sephiroth's mind in that case was not as surprising, Rufus thought.

The hand on Sephiroth's thigh didn't particularly surprise him, though Rufus heard through his Turks that Genesis and Sephiroth never took each other as lovers. Angeal had been the one who both men were linked with intimately, which never ceased to amaze Rufus. Rufus had taken male lovers and knew intricately that sexual desires held little control over personal actions, but it was difficult to imagine any of the three SOLDIERs lying with their legs open.

"I won't lie, there are other reasons for our trip to the Crater. I want to know if there is any way I could find myself a new body, my old body." Genesis turned his nose up. "This is a tainted body with tainted blood. I'm sure you wouldn't understand, but to be stuck inside the bastard child of General Marshall, well..." Genesis looked like he'd swallowed a mouthful of bees.

Rufus was unable to keep the surprise out of his eyes. "General Marshall, as in the man who led part of the Second Wutian War in the north?" The President knew as much about the General as most did—by ear. There were rumors he was a beast who'd liked innocent blood and bodies a little more than appropriate and even one about how he'd been the one to pull Rei Kisaragi's eyes from his head in boredom.

Genesis hummed. "Do not forget his _active _participation in the Crondrel campaign. I'm sure it was in the _Tenacity _files. It is ever-so unfortunate that Turk took off with the information. I would surely love to see it. But, back to the topic—yes, Marshall." Distaste couldn't even begin to cover the look on the SOLDIER's face.

"Didn't he disappear?"

A smile broke across Genesis's face and he gripped the false Sephiroth's thigh tighter, the leather squealing in protest. "Well, that is one way of saying it. Another would be that he choice the wrong attempted victim." The toothy smile only became more wide, like a feral beast with its foot in a bear trap. "So, succinctly... yes. Disappeared would be an excellent term."

It was best to drop the subject, Rufus thought as he poured more whiskey into his glass. "Do you think the rest of out plan will be met in the Northern Crater?"

The harsh look faded from the man's eyes as he raised his glass to the President. "The puppy will come," he admitted, "and with him, so shall Angeal. And we will have our reunion."

* * *

**Happy New Years Eve! Let's hope the coming year has more of this story, eh? Also, just so you know, I actually started the next actual chapter before even finishing this one. So. **

**Please Review!**


	87. Sacrificial Lamb

Author Notes: And here come the deviations.

I'd also like to state my sincere thanks to you guys. You, who stuck with me. I just want you to know that I'm so thankful that you guys read, favorite, alert, and even review. I hate sounding sappy, but I just want you to know how important I think you guys are and how much you have helped me. I'm sorry I don't update as often as I'd like to; I'm a college student. I'm going on an exchange to Tokyo in the Fall. I'm supposed to graduate the year after. However, no matter what I will keep writing. I love writing and I love this story and I love you guys, too. This is the 100th chapter and I just figured I'd thank you for sticking with me through it all.

I'd also like to mention you may notice the word count going down. This is because I'm finally getting around to editing the story (to chapter 13 or so at the moment). I had a beta, but she became far too busy to tackle the project. If any of you guys would like to help, feel free to send me a PM. But, either way, I'm cutting some of the bits and pieces that don't do anything for the story. If you'd like the old versions, feel free to send me a message and I'll send you the older version. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the edited version.

Now that I've gotten all sappy, I'll just shut up and let you read.

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its compilation. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

* * *

Chapter Eighty One: Sacrificial Lamb

There were questions—no doubt there were questions. What happened, how did it happen, and more importantly, _why. _

And Zack had no answers.

His stomach constricted painfully and he turned in the bed, listening to the creaks of the mattress and remembering the last time he'd been in his bedroom in Gongaga. He and Cloud kissed for the first time. Zack had kissed through his own tears, felt the soft lips against his and felt for the first time in so very long that there was someone who he loved, who he could die for, holding him. Cloud's hair whispering across his face, the sweet scent of his hair, the curve of his neck, even the blue of his mako eyes... each memory came back as vivid and sharp as the knife Cloud held to his neck.

How long was Cloud... not Cloud? How long had the taint been with him, been permeating through the blond's body, his very soul? Had Cloud known there was something of unspeakable ugliness inside him, curled up like a cat, under its paw a little mouse struggling to break free?

Had he made love to Cloud that night, or had it been Genesis hiding behind Cloud's face? Had it been Genesis who held him close and whispered into his back, Genesis's fingers that drew pictures into his stomach?

The very idea made his stomach churn. He rolled himself up in a tight ball to alleviate the need to puke.

He didn't really remember how he wound up in his childhood home but he refused to look the gift-chocobo in the mouth. This room, though not the same room of his childhood, felt like home. His mother's perfume smelled like it always did. His father's gruff voice sounded the same. It was a comfort, no matter the pain radiating from his heart.

_Cloud._

Zack remembered the blood, the gushing of red and the soft green light enveloping Cloud on Aeris's table a lifetime ago. The voice in his head screaming at him to do something, to save Cloud.

To save Genesis.

Zack gagged and pulled his knees up tighter. Even after killing Angeal this pain hadn't been so great. This was having his ribcage cracked open and his organs shown to curious bystanders. His heart, it _hurt. _If this was what he had to look forward to for the rest of his life, maybe it would have been better to die in Hojo's care...

_No,_ Zack thought firmly as he grabbed his head, pulling at his hair. _No, don't think like that. You saved Cloud, you saved him. Cloud didn't deserve that, he deserved none of it. He deserved to be saved.. more than anything. I promised him, I promised._

**Zack.**

Zack bit back a bark. Of course, of course. How could he possibly forget about his new _brain buddy._

**Zack, please don't be angry. I didn't ask for this, either.**

_Of course you didn't, _Zack thought bitterly, wishing he could see his old mentor's face. Maybe that little reminder of what his mentor once was would have kept him from hating the man and what he did to Zack's head. _You've made my brain a SOLDIER funhouse. I don't even know what's me and what's you, anymore!_

When Genesis presented himself in his full glory, presenting himself as a masterpiece inside a body not his, Zack knew what the feeling was in him and why his heart pitter-pattered harder and his soul seemed to exhale. He knew for a long time Angeal considered Genesis his lover, his best friend, and in some twisted way part of his own soul. They'd talked of it when Genesis first deserted and took a third of the SOLDIERs with him. He'd known about their sexual relationship for a long time, ever since he'd caught the two in the VR room, but the realization that their relationship was more of genuine feeling than the mashing of two bodies in need of escape made Zack uncomfortable. Genesis was crazy, even before he deserted. How could Angeal love someone so broken?

_I loved Cloud, even when he was broken, _Zack reminded himself sharply.

**You still love him_. _**

Angeal was right, of course... nothing would ever change that. Even with Genesis holding that knife to the back of his neck, when he'd used Cloud's lips to hurt him, he still loved Cloud.

A surge of emotion shot through Zack as he allowed his body to relax and allowed himself to breath. The weight of the last few days still sat on his chest, but his lungs weren't crushed anymore. He could still move, still walk, still_ try._ And he would succeed and save Cloud.

But, before that... he needed to know...

It was hard talking to Angeal because, no matter how dearly he cared for his dead mentor, the man was in his head and changing his memories. Who was he, who was Angeal, and where did the two split off into different people? When he first realized Angeal was the one in his head, the sudden onslaught of Angeal's memories rushed to the forefront of his mind, crashing into his own memories with the force of a train. Pulling those memories apart, separating the truth from the lies... it was easier to do because Angeal was there to help, to untangle the memories and set them to rights.

However, the entire time he did it he could only think of Cloud and how he'd experienced the same thing and no one had been there to help. No one told him which were his and which were not... No wonder Cloud splintered...

_Angeal... how much of Cloud was there, that night?_ Even asking hurt; part of him didn't want to know, just in case the answer was _nothing._

Angeal answered. **Most, if not all. There were only glimpses of Genesis there, though I wasn't present for much of it. You deserve your privacy. **

_When? When did you feel that Genesis was there?_ Zack begged. He needed to know, he needed to understand. While it was a comfort to know it was still CLoud he'd made love to, who'd made love to him, even a hint of Genesis was a taint on the memory.

**The comfort,** Angeal responded, **the known and understood intimacy, despite never having been so close_. _**

That answer stung. Zack knew it was silly, to be upset about something he already knew the answer to, but it still ate at his insides. No matter how perfect it was, how much their bodies fed their passion and their emotions ran through one another, Genesis tainted even that. That comfort between them wasn't allowed to be besmirched by one psycho SOLDIER with a vendetta. It just couldn't.

It wasn't fair.

Zack buried his face in his hands and breathed in deeply, hoping with everything in his that the pain would subside and it wouldn't feel like an open hole anymore. He wanted Cloud back, to be able to hold the blond in his arms and kiss his face, to know that what he loved and the one who loved him was whole and completely _him_.

If it hadn't been so painful, Zack could have laughed at his misfortune. Why was he different than the millions of other people on this Planet? Why couldn't he have his happy little world where he and Cloud owned their own house in some obscure village and maybe ran their own shop? Zack wanted something that would be theirs, where they were allowed to be who they were and not worry about what anyone else thought. There was love in that future, love and happiness. But... there would be no happiness if he didn't get out of bed. He needed to save Cloud.

_Can I save him?_

**Yes, you can save him.**

Then, he needed to do it _now._

* * *

Zack felt like a child in Zaiden Fair's embrace. Despite being over six feet tall with muscle and mass only a SOLDIER could possess, his father's arms would always be stronger. Perhaps it was because Zack remembered those strong arms hold him up as a little boy, but not even Sephiroth could do what his father did. He looked the same way he always did, strong man with black hair (though graying, much like his mother) and kind blue eyes. There was a scar on the bridge of his nose that wasn't there when Zack left; he imagined it was from when the reactor exploded.

He hugged tighter and felt the pain of the last few days drain away. Ma was behind them, holding her hand to her chest, sniffling. They had been in the middle of supper, Zack noticed as he looked next to his mother; three plates were set out, only two in use. She turned and began fixing him a plate, smiling.

"It's good to see you up an' about," Zaiden said as he rubbed Zack's back, a comforting motion only a father could properly give. "Your mama and I were worried sick when that girl brought ya' here. You were so outta it, thought you were never gunna..." His father stopped and pulled a little away. "Let's just sit down. If you wanna tell your mama an' me what happened, we're all ears." He clapped his hand on Zack's shoulder and smiled, though it was obvious the man had much he wanted to ask...

Too curious for his own good. Too wild.

Zack was his father in every way.

"Baby, have some food. I made plenty. Thought you were gunna come today, just got a feeling," Ma said as she piled potatoes onto his plate. "I made chocobo nuggets. They're even shaped like those damned Touch Mes." A smile split across her face as she piled more corn on his plate, the little nuggets smiling up at him.

Something from his childhood, a reminder that life went on and yet still stayed the same.

"Thanks, Ma," Zack said, feeling his eyes sting. He would not cry, he could not cry. "It's... It's great, really. Thank you."

Ma's mouth turned down and she nodded her head. "Zai, c'mon, let's get him to the table," she said low, though Zack was sure she knew he could hear her well. The last time they spoke, Zack explained about the SOLDIER program and what it did to him. He explained how even when his eyes were closed he could see the outlines of his veins. He told her of the phantom pains of the various injuries and how he'd gotten the scar on his face... and the ones on his arms and legs and neck. He even explained how he could hear a cricket a mile away if he let his mind wander into the vast openness.

They sat at the table, a quiet touching the table. Zack knew his parents were curious. He was sure that whoever brought him to his parent's house didn't tell them much, if anything at all. Zack was still unsure of exactly what happened; it was so sudden, so shocking, and then it was his room and blankets and his mother brushing the tears away with kisses.

"Are the others still here?" Zack asked, unsure what he wanted them to answer with. If they left already Zack could spend the time he needed collecting his thoughts, coming up with a plan on how to help Cloud. It meant, however, that he would do it on his own. If they were still around it meant he wouldn't have enough time to come to grips with what happened. It meant going back to Aeris, Barret, Red, and... Tifa.

Tifa knew. Holy, Tifa _knew_.

Zack reached for his fork with a stressed smile, saying "It looks good," though his voice was harsh from misuse.

Ma looked to his father with a look Zack knew well: "Are you gunna say something or should I?"

"They're still here, Zack. They're at the inn waiting for you. But..." Ma said, grabbing hold of her glass and swishing it in her cup, "Cloud wasn't there. Did something happen?"

The potatoes were still warm, and Zack smiled at the taste. It was like being a child again just for a few minutes. Even though he knew he should have been a bit insulted that his mother thought he was still a little boy who still ate Touch Me chocobo nuggets, he couldn't help but feel his heart burst. His family, his ma's love and his dad's strength...

_But, dad'll never meet the person who has my heart cupped in his hands._

Zack choked back a sob as he dropped his fork. It was suddenly so hard to breathe. How could he have allowed himself to feel happy, to smile, when the love of his life was gone?

"Oh, baby," Ma said as she dropped her glass, spilling sweet tea across the table. She threw her chair back and rushed over, wrapping her arms around him and holding him close. "Baby, baby, baby," she repeated as she rocked him back and forth.

Zack could only cry.

"He's gone, he's gone," Zack cried, breathing deeply between his teeth. "I... I didn't save him."

"What do you mean, Zack?" his father asked, "Is he... did Cloud di-"

"**No!**" Zack yelled. The china on the table cracked. Ma shuddered and Zack slapped a hand over his mouth. "I... I didn't, I didn't mean to..."

She grabbed Zack's shoulders and pulled herself down to his sight. "Don't you ever apologize to me. It's just a plate. Zaiden, go put on some tea. And you, you tell me exactly what happened."

Zack loved his parents and knew they loved him, but never before had Zack felt them unquestioningly give their love without so much as a thought.

This only made Zack want to cry harder into his mother's arms. His body may be twenty three, but inside where his heart resided, he was still a teenage boy trying to figure out life.

Life was hard.

Life hurt.

* * *

"It's good to see you're up," Aeris said as she poked her head around the corner of the door frame, her new pink dress rustling at her knees. "We were getting worried."

Zack waited until the next day to find his friends, wanting to keep that night with his parents sacred, in some fashion. It'd been years since all three had dinner together, and even longer since he'd taken comfort from either of them. In fact, Ma had even joked about it while wiping his tears away, telling him he hadn't cried like that since he was six and one of the neighborhood boys pushed him out of a tree. His father nearly ripped the kid's head off if Zack remembered correctly.

This was harder than he thought it would be. Even looking at Aeris was difficult; what was he supposed to say to her? "Sorry, my boyfriend has lost his marbles and is now being controlled by a psychopath who is trying to destroy the world?" That wouldn't go over too well with himself or Aeris. And Tifa... she'd turn blue at the mention of boyfriend.

"Well, yeah. I'm up," he said with a shrug, digging his boot toe into the scuffed wooden floor. The entire inn was scuffed, it seemed. There were a rag-tag set of beds in the room, with mismatching coverlets and sheets. The end tables were old and creaking under the weight of their drawers, all of which had different handles varying from brass to gnarled wooden grips. It wasn't the place Zack remembered from his childhood, the lovely place run by an older couple whose children tended to the nearby park. This place was ragged, yes, but more than anything it lacked the telltale feelings it once did. The lack of freshly-cut flowers of the pressed sheets made Zack mourn the loss of his hometown the way it once was.

Aeris's smile was small, barely even there. "Are you..." She leaned against the door frame and wrapped her fingers around the wood. "Um, how are you feeling?"

Zack blinked and shook his head, staring to the right of Aeris's ear. "How do you think I'm feeling?" he said bluntly before biting down on his lip. "Sorry."

Aeris let go of the wood and put both her hands behind her back. "That was a bad question," she apologized. "I... I'm not sure entirely what I should say."

"Neither do I. We're in the same boat, I guess." Zack tried to smile, but he couldn't make his mouth lie. "I... we need to find him, help him. You know that wasn't him."

Aeris's chin jerked down. "I know. There was something wrong for a long time, but I never could figure out what it was. I never met Genesis before, only heard the stories about him through you and his fangirls."

"So, pretty biased," Zack joked, the mood lightening a little. He finally looked at her, noting the emotion behind her green eyes.

"I thought they were better than the Silver Elite. I got free membership to all of them because of how many flowers their fans bought."

Zack remembered the hundreds of bouquets Sephiroth received after the reported deaths of his friends; he never even thought who was supplying them...

"Zack?" Aeris asked, her voice shrinking back, "They're going to the Northern Crater. I feel it in my bones."

"Then it's a damn good thing I decided to come save your asses, then!" someone yelled from behind him, and Zack nearly knocked over the man behind him. "Couldn't do a damn thing without me; even brought along a special something."

"Cid?" Zack asked, staring at the pilot with an open mouth. "Wh...what're you doing here?" He never thought he'd see the man again after he'd taken off in the Gold Saucer. In fact, Zack wasn't particularly sure he ever wanted to see the man again after what he said and did. But... "What brought you back?"

Cid chewed on his cigarette, blue eyes narrowed. "Got back to Rocket Town and found the entire place went to shit. Shera said Shinra threatened to burn down the entire place looking for you and they even threatened her. Now, I ain't really giving too many shits 'bout Rocket Town, but they don't get to threaten Shera and get 'way with it. So, I went snoopin' an' think I found something you may want to see." Cid held out a file, waving it back and forth. "I was jus' grabbin' shit and found this. Completely coincidental," Cid stated matter-of-factly, though Zack noticed the way the man's leg jerked a little. There was something the man was hiding about whatever happened with Shera, Zack didn't think it right to ask. If Cid didn't want to share he couldn't make him.

Zack took it from the man's hand and flipped it open, looked at the top page and snapped the file shut. "How did you get this?" Zack asked as he gripped the file tightly. His voice caught in his throat.

He kept on chewing at his cigarette and threw his head back. "Accident. Really."

Zack took a shuddering breath and flipped the file back open and stared down at Cloud's face, green eyes and all. There were a few notes at the bottom, though most of the document was streaked with black marker lines. The date coincided with the day a few months prior when Hojo played with Cloud for a little while... the day before Sephiroth broke into the compound and killed the President.

It would be hard, but Zack was sure that with a few pain pills and six hours he would be able to get a good look at what was written underneath the marker. Shinra be damned, they gave him the eyes that could see microscopic changes in color. This was their own fault.

"Thank you," Zack said with as much sincerity he could muster. Despite whatever Cid had done wrong, the information in this... it could help. He didn't want to put too much hope in it, but this was something. "Really."

A thought graced Zack's mind for just a moment, but it was a poignant one. What if this was an attempt by Shinra to falsely lead them somewhere?

"Don't be thankin' me, yet. I wanna rip Shinra's head off. I... I don't say this often, but what I did was wrong. I shouldn'ta left." Cid even looked decently ashamed. "I'm gunna go set up the plane; I jacked one of the fighter planes from the base when I left; good thing, too. Found that damn vamp walking back from Nibelheim. I don't think he would've made it back with all the Shinra lining the roads on the way. Turks woulda taken him out."

Vincent, too? What could have possibly brought the man back? The demons riding him couldn't be happy to be back. Was it something to do with Aeris? He noticed that the woman spent a lot of time around Vincent and it made him twitchy. Even when he looked at her now, her cheeks flushed with color and she ardently refused to look at either Zack or Cid. Was he aware the way she smiled at him and her cheeks turned red?

It wasn't the jealous ex-boyfriend fueling his wariness of Valentine—it was Chaos that would rip Aeris apart if he got the chance.

"Where is he?" Zack asked.

"Around," Aeris answered as she purposely stopped her hand from going to curl her bangs—another thing he new her to do at the beginning of their relationship so long ago. "He said he wanted to look at an upgrade in his bullet materia. It's been a few years..."

"We should leave soon. If they're heading north, we need to cut them off."

"Zack, we need to talk about what happened... we need to face this, together."

Cid coughed, interrupting the two. "Look, I ain't gunna bother you, but we've got until morning before they track that plane I stole—less if that damn spy strings us out. If we're gunna leave, we gotta do it by the mornin'."

"Understood," Zack told the man before nodding slightly to Aeris. "Yeah, we do need to talk."

_I need to figure out exactly how you got in there, Angeal... and if I can get you out._

* * *

Aeris sat in the corner on a step stool, her feet curling around the gnarled wooden legs. Zack sat on the edge of one of the beds, playing with the paisley fabric, pulling at a loose thread. It snapped and puckered the fabric when he pulled to hard. The file Cid gave him sat on top of one of the pillows, waiting for the right time to be explored.

"I didn't know what was going on," Aeris admitted, voice tinged with reluctance. "The Planet was so hateful toward Cloud... even you. I can understand now. It knew there was something wrong and Cloud had someone in his head that shouldn't have been there."

"I have one, too."

Aeris face froze before she pulled herself straight. Zack tried to ignore that she also edged away from him. It wouldn't have been something someone who wasn't enhanced could tell, which could only possibly lead to even more nervousness. "Oh?"

"Angeal..." Zack tapped his middle finger on his forehead, "he's up there, but I got to admit I didn't realize it until Cloud."

Aeris's eyebrows knit together. "How could you _not _know there was someone else in your head?" she asked, incredulously.

"He'd been there since I woke up in Nibelheim," Zack said, though he wished he could have whispered the words. "I didn't even realize what it was; I just thought my mind fractured a bit in Hojo's tender care."

"It does explain a lot."

Zack shrugged one shoulder and went back to picking at the blanket. "Do you think there's some way I can get him out without destroying him?"

**I understand you don't want me here, Zack... But I don't know if I can leave... Not until I take care of Genesis. I let this fester, I never fixed the broken trust between us. He lost his way and I could do nothing to help him.**

_You can worry about Genesis's immortal soul all you'd like but I want him __**out **__of Cloud. Genesis has done enough damage. It's his fault Sephiroth lost his mind and he tried killing me and __**you**_. _You're my mentor, my friend, even an older brother. I love you, but... _Zack didn't know what words he could even make for his friend, so instead he pushed his feelings to the forefront of his mind.

"I'm not sure. There's no reason we shouldn't..."

"Where do souls go when you die?" Zack asked.

"The lifestream," she answered immediately.

"Do the souls... remember?"

Aeris's feet relaxed and allowed her toes to droop to the floor. "If they want."

**Wanting me out of your head won't kill me, **Angeal's voice whispered in his mind, **and I don't blame you for thinking it. You deserve so much more than having me attached to you... my cells were used in you.**

_Will I begin to degrade, like you?_

**No... I don't believe so. Your cells were already warped by Jenova and mako. Unlike others who were subjected to my cells, yours couldn't be fully changed...**

_Can you take over me like Genesis did Cloud?_

Silence.

"I don't think Angeal would blame you."

Zack swallowed. "I don't think so, either."

Aeris diverted her eyes for a moment while Zack composed himself. "I also wanted to tell you about the Planet... the other Cetra aren't pleased with your _companion_."

"The one in my head?"

Aeris shook her head, brown curls bobbing. "I mean Cloud. What should I call him? Boyfriend? Lover?"

Words caught in Zack's throat. "Companion works, Aer. We're still the same people we've always been, y'know. It didn't change just because of what happened."

Aeris arms shifted and she began fiddling with her bracelets. "I know that, Zack. I even encouraged it. You weren't supposed to be mine. I figured that out, and I accepted it. I think I accepted it in my heart years ago," she raised her left hand to put it to her chest and cupped her right hand around it, "so that's not really important."

Zack glanced at her, unsure of whether or not she was telling the truth. He hoped she was, even if what she seemed to be leaning toward Vincent (as much as Vincent allowed her.)

"Either way, Cloud... The Planet can't hear him anymore. There's something important happening and the Planet is agitated, but... I can only make out a faint whisper. I was able to here more, before the Temple."

"What's holding you back?"

Aeris allowed her hands to drop back into her lap before she stood, raising a finger. "I'm not sure how much you remember from the temple. You were in shock and we had to drag you out to the car. But," Aeris turned and shuffled toward a bag in the corner of the room, where Zack noted his Buster Sword stood proudly against the wall, "we did get something from the wreckage."

_Wreckage? The place wasn't destroyed..._

When Zack expressed this, Aeris turned and frowned before kneeling and played with the straps on her bag. She bit her lip and adjusted the straps twice before opening them and reaching into the bag. "After you went into shock, the Planet told me why I was drawn to the temple. There was something there, something so dangerous if Sephiroth and Genesis got their hands on it, it could destroy the world."

Zack sucked in a breath. "What in Holy could do that?"

"This."

It was a black hole. That was the first thing Zack thought of when he saw it, the nothingness of materia spilling out of Aeris's cupped hand. He knew it was materia from the faint shimmer at the edge between Aeris's hand and the surface of the ball. It was roughly the size of a chocobo egg, sleek black and _cold_. He could feel the coldness radiating off of the materia and he bit down an instinctive shiver. "I don't like that."

Aeris looked down to the materia and got off her knees. Zack noticed she wouldn't bring it close enough to her body for it to touch anything more than her hands. "I don't blame you. This is Black Materia. It can summon a giant meteor from the heavens to destroy this Planet, forcing the Lifestream up to allow something to..." She paused and pursed her lips before sitting next to Zack. She kept the materia from touching Zack. "I think Jenova wants to use it to leave the Planet. There were whispers in the temple, but I didn't understand it all. It took Cait Sith's body to get it, too... It required a sacrifice."

"How?" Zack could care less about the mechanical cat, but sacrifice? What in the temple could have wanted that? The first thing he could think of was the purple hooded individuals, but that was squashed quickly. It was bizarre, sure, but not cruel.

"The temple itself was the materia. To release the power, you had to do something inside the main chamber, a puzzle of sorts. The only person who really knows what it was is the person who runs Cait. Even though he sent a new one, he didn't answer... though I think maybe he couldn't. Cait was, well, odd. He even gave me a fortune before we left." She looked down and patted her jacket pocket. "I know what he is, but..."

Zack edged away from her, feeling the power rolling off the materia. "Can you put that away?" Zack asked, subdued. "It's creeping me out."

Aeris nodded and stood, "You're not the only one who has bad feeling about this. Yuffie vomited when she saw it; it was so bad Tifa used a Sleep spell on her in the car to keep her calm."

At the mention of a sleep spell, Zack glared. He tried not to, but he couldn't. When the oppressive force dissipated a bit(though Zack knew it wasn't completely mind over matter and the materia nestled in the bag was as dangerous in as it was out) he could rein in his emotions. It wasn't her who used that spell, not really. Still, if she hadn't done it, there was a chance he could have gotten to Cloud before Genesis truly set in, could have saved his best friend from Genesis's control...

**You couldn't have... he was already gone.**

_How? How could you know? _Zack snapped.

**I could feel it, Zack. Do you remember what he whispered to you? **

Zack thought and thought, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall Cloud whispering to him. He remembered the feeling of Cloud's lips brushing his cheek and down to his ear, but words? There was only air and syllables, none of which made sense to the black-haired man.

In his frustration, Zack stood and rocked back and forth on his heels, staring pointedly at his sword. What did Cloud say? What did he say?

_Tell me,_ Zack finally asked, raising his hand to Aeris who was staring at him. "One sec."

Zack tried to listen to Angeal, but he went silent again.

"Is he being unhelpful?" Aeris asked.

Zack threw himself backward into the paisley blanket, staring up at the ceiling. "Do you know why they're going north?"

Aeris crossed her arms over her breasts and sighed. She pulled over the stool and sat back down. "Having the Black Materia around is interfering with my connection to the planet. I know it doesn't like me, and I don't like it. Probably because of being a Cetra."

"But why would the Planet make a weapon that could kill the entire planet?"

"For the same reason you cut off a gangrenous limb... to save the whole. I think the reason the Cetra made it was to keep the Lifestream safe, no matter the cost. If this planet died they could still send the Lifestream to the stars..."

"Meaning the souls would survive..." Zack murmured, more to himself than anything.

Aeris nodded. "It's a scary thought, sure, but it means the soul of this planet would continue on. I remember my mother telling me a story, though it's only beginning to make sense."

The ex-SOLDIER looked to Aeris, whose face looked pale and clammy. He got back up and put one foot under him, leaning forward. "How so?"

Aeris shook her head. "It's not important," she told him before changing the subject. "Do you remember me telling you about the story of Minerva and her daughters?"

Zack thought back to that night in the glimmering Mythril Mines. He nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"

"There was something Cloud—Genesis," she corrected herself, "something Genesis said. He said "She needs us to save her wandering child, so lost in this great, wide, world." And I thought, and thought, and thought... Do you know if Genesis knew about Minerva?"

"Of course he knew about Minerva; he was obsessed with _Loveless_. He even quoted it."

"Yes... _She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting._"

Zack held up his arm and close his eyes. His teeth clenched. "Don't quote that at me."

"I'm sorry... of course," Aeris consoled. "This must be hard."

Zack opened his eyes and allowed his jaw to loosen. He could hear his jaw pop from the pressure. "You have no idea," he admitted, letting emotion wash into his voice. He tried to hold most of it back, since he'd allowed himself to cry so much with his parents. Here he was a leader and needed to hold it together. If he didn't no one would be able to help save Cloud. "You were saying?"

The woman composed herself before continuing, though she looked far more cautious than she had prior. "Minerva is the fabled Mother of Gaia. She created us all. If Genesis is as obsessed with Loveless, and by all accounts adored Minerva, there's a chance he may be going to the Northern Crater to try and save Jenova."

"Oh, Sweet Gaia..." Zack put both hands on his face, rubbing his temples. "If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, I don't like it."

"They may try to use the Black Materia to pull the pieces of Jenova back together. A reunion of sorts." Aeris allowed this to sink in before continuing, "There is a chance they mean something else, though."

"Like what?" Zack said, biting back most of his frustration. "They want to end the world to save that psycho bitch. How could it get _any_ better?"

"They could be trying to save Jenova's child..."

"What."

"They may want to save Jenova's wandering child... You remember what Vincent said, what the Tenacity Experiment was... this may have something more to do with Cloud."

Zack's ears rang. "How can they be saving him? They _took _him! What are they going to do to him?" Zack turned and grabbed the file, pushing it open and began sifting through the material. "What do they want with Cloud?" He eyed the paper frantically, wishing there weren't black lines across the information he needed.

Aeris stood and grabbed Zack's shoulders, shaking him. "Zack, calm down," she yelled, tugging harder. "How are you going to help Cloud if you're losing your head?"

He could have sobbed. Knowing himself, Zack would have given anything for Cloud to be there with him right now. Maybe Cloud would know what to do; the blond was always good with understanding what to do. And more than that, Zack could think without his entire being _aching_. "What do they want with him?"

"I don't know. Maybe nothing, maybe they want to use the Black Materia to get Jenova. Maybe we're all wrong and they have other plans..."

Zack looked into her bright green eyes, seeing his own violet ones reflecting back at him. "You don't believe that for a second."

Aeris faltered. "I think this does have to do with Cloud," she admitted. "I have this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that Cloud is the question and answer to everything. Zack, how much do you know about Cloud? Really."

"What do you mean? I know a lot about Cloud, more than probably anyone on this damned rock." It was the truth; Cloud never had many friends as a child (even Tifa being aloof to him until he left and went to join Shinra and SOLDIER) and when Zack and Cloud met...

_I met him in Modeoheim ,_Zack reminded himself. They hadn't grown up together as neighbors and friends. They hadn't met until Zack was seventeen, Cloud fifteen. Still, he knew of Cloud's hopes, fears, his childhood... And Zack was just as open.

_I lied to him_. Zack squashed the thought. It wasn't really a lie, not really...

_He point-blank asked how many, and I told him four._ "I lied to him... only once."

The corner of Aeris's mouth quirked down. "So you did. Do you think he lied to you about anything?"

"Like what?"

"Maybe... maybe he lied about how much he knew?"

Zack shook his head quickly, black spikes bobbing. "No. Cloud was way too confused or shocked by anything I told him. I don't think he knew anything, and if he did it wasn't important. Cloud isn't the kind of person to lie." The "But I am," was left of, though both knew it should have been there.

"There's something we're missing, Zack," Aeris told him before standing back up, brushing her hands down the sides of her dress "I think it best if you stay here tonight. We have another two rooms down the hall. We can leave you to this one."

"Thanks, Aer."

Aeris nodded and eyed the file. "Be careful, alright? I'm worried about that..."

"I"ll tell you what I find out, okay?" Zack responded, though he was unsure if he would really be able to tell her if there was something damnable about Cloud.

And, deep down... Zack knew there would be.

* * *

**A relatively slow chapter, though very much important. Next chapter, we get the Northern Crater... If you're curious, feel free to check out the chapter list on my profile. We've got a ton left! **

**Please Review!**


	88. A quick note

**Hi, dear readers. **

**I am not one for writing notes, but I know that I have been gone for a year. This 'chapter' note will only be up for a brief period of time before I delete the 'note'. **

**I just got back from Japan. I am not dead, I have not abandoned this story, and I am currently working on the next chapter.**

**Some of you have probably noticed the decrease in chapters. Do not fret—I have taken it upon myself to put some chapters together to make it easier to read. I've also cut out a few things and added a little (more for my own clarification than anything else) to make the story more readable. **

**The numbering with the chapters are being fixed at the moment, so the current chapter number will be smaller once I get to editing this chapter. Because of this, there may be some issues with reviewing, though I do hope you guys will review. I like hearing what you all think, and it makes my fingers want to write faster.**

**I will be deleting this in one week or when I update the next chapter, whichever is sooner. **

**With love, Sai**


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